The Dictionary Definition

For the next step on the way to understanding technology, I simply looked the word up in the dictionary. To be more specific, I looked it up on Merriam-Webster Online. Perhaps the dictionary definition can more accurately sum up the complexities of technology in a way I couldn't.

Merriam-Webster states that technology is "the practical application of knowledge in a particular area." (Merriam-Webster). Of the three definitions included, this is the most relevant to this issue. This definition covers I wide range of technological achievements. Unfortunately it fails to address the fact that technology doesn't have to be practical. Let's look at the modern SUV. Now, I'm all for the use of gasoline as a fuel source. I say use it until its gone, then find something else. But despite the fact that Americans love their gas guzzlers, they aren't practical. If we were doing the practical thing, car companies would all come out with the most gas efficient car they could. Yet millions of people are willing to pay more at the pump for a bigger, flashier vehicle. That may be their prerogative, and if they willing money for size, then more power to them. However, it is not practical. Even if we were to take the word practical out, this definition still fails to address the purpose of technology. It may incompletely sum up what, but not why. I had hoped to find a way to articulate why we develop technology.

It seems as if I still have more research to do. However, I have not been without progress. I may have found the beginning of my working definition of technology. It's vague and rather two dimensional, but at least it's a start. Perhaps I will be able to build on this definition and make it more complete.

Asking the Question

Very few words in the English language can evoke a response as varied and powerful as the word "technology." But what precisely is technology? This is a question that requires me to delve deeply into both my own experiences and those of others. It is a question where no answer is truly right and no answer is truly wrong. It is a question where even finding a definite answer is a luxury I can't rely on. Nevertheless, I will try. Everything begins with a question, and that is exactly where I am starting now.
Technology is a word that has changed drastically in meaning and importance over the course of history. Today the word generally conjures up the image of a computer, the epitome of modern technology. In the past the word was best represented by the printing press or even the wheel. Such varied examples of technology throughout history have not made defining it easy. Still, after thinking for a few minutes I remembered a definition that many of us have heard before. Technology is anything that is created to make our lives easier. This is a traditional definition and, up until now, that would have been the one that I would have used to define technology. Now I have found that definition to be incomplete at best, and downright wrong at worst. It is true that many exemplars of technological achievement were created to make our lives easier, but just as many were not. For example, let us look at the crossbow. Truly it was a marvel in its own time. It greatly lessened the influence of the knight on the battlefield and changed the course of warfare. I have never believed that humanity would be able to live without war. It is an integral part of our history and I'm sure that there will be many more wars in our future. Still, I do not believe that inventions such as the crossbow or the atom bomb have made anyone's life easier. In the case of nuclear weapons in the Cold War, they have even made our lives more difficult. I am not saying that inventions such as these were not important or necessary, just that they don't fit under the jaded view that the sole purpose of technology is to "help people."
Defining technology is a task I can't complete with my own input alone. I must ask others or consult other sources before I can hope to come up with a more complete definition of what technology is.