What's
a technophile?
One who loves
or is so fond of technology that they may
overlook the difficulties involved with the machine
age such as: externalities, or alienation
and misplaced sentiment. An
advocate of technical solutions to problems of social, moral or economic
origins. Anyone who so cherishes the concept of progress that they believe
in the inevitability of constant improvement due to the application
of technology to social difficulties. A
technophile is anyone who worships
material progress, they may be unaware of particularly the
three facets of tools, but they do appreciate a culture of technology.
Denis Diderot and the democratization of practical knowledge. The Encyclopédie 1751-1772.
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Technophilia | Defining qualities of tools | Persistence
& Pervasiveness | Periodization | Triggers | Exaptation
Technology
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The study of technology is far more than the mere surface descriptions of what a tool is and how it is used for or what it exactly does.
There are three distinct facets or
aspects of technology which must
be understood to actually see how tools shape, intercede in, and eventually
envelop our lives, our imaginations, and our relations with others.
All
three facets of tools
Tools are devices
for making artifacts. When arranged together by techniques into a technically
supportive role these devices, implements, or equipment act over time
to speed up, reorganize, or accelerate our power to alter conditions.
Technology then
has a catalytic impact on any society that
relies on tools, fuel and resources that technology makes available
to economic exploitation.
Technophilia
| Defining qualities of tools | Persistence
& Pervasiveness | Periodization | Triggers
| Exaptation
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Periods
Technology–or
the materials from which the dominant tools of a period were crafted–has
influenced the names and character
of past eras.
stone
age
bronze
age
iron
age
information
age
Technophilia
| Defining qualities of tools | Persistence
& Pervasiveness | Periodization |
Triggers | Exaptation
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Andikithera device, c. 300 BCE, Astral
Computer from Ancient Greece, Aegean Sea.
This instrument –is a trigger to development of sophisticated gears– was found beneath
the shallow seas of the island of Andikithera in the Aegean Sea. The
device photographed here was actually a mechanically operated calendar
keeping, or calendrical device used by priests in Greek temples to predict
the solstices, equinoxes and eclipses. Embedded
beneath the calcium buildup was a gear discovered with the aid of x-rays
that was a 1000 years ahead of its time. The gearing allowed those who
used the mechanism --as early as the 3rd century before Christ-- to
predict the occurrence of celestial events, such as the first day of
spring. Specialists used the device to track the lunar and solar cycles
with great precision.
Andikithera device
Inside this machinery
was discovered a specialized part known to us as the
invention of the differential gear. This is a gear which can
turn at two different speeds, hence the name: differential gear, which
is an important technical piece of machinery with numerous applications. This
type of gear is capable of turning at two different speeds while connected
to the same axle, or drive shaft. As the drive shaft or main axle rotates
at one speed the differential gear is able to rotate either more rapidly
or less rapidly than the main animating axle. Today the differential
gear is the foundation of machinery that drives the industrial foundations
of many automated systems we use today.
As an essential
technological ingredient in modern life, the differential gear is a
keystone application in modern transportation. Do you know where differential
gears are currently most used in our society?
Technophilia | Defining qualities of tools | Persistence
& Pervasiveness | Periodization | Triggers | Exaptation
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Exaptation
Similarly, the
differential gear was reformulated from clocks to radically alter the
productive capacity of the textile industry. The differential gear in
undergoing one transition to another as it is applied in different inventions to meet different needs has played a signal role in the development
of modern technology.
Technology - technics 