Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and
adapt to their natural environments. The human species' use of technology began with the
conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to
control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans
in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including
the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to
communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all
technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing
destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies,
technology has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the ride of a leisure
class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and
deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various
implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often
raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms
of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of
traditional norms.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society,
with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it.
Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of
technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people;
proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued
technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently,
it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but
recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have
developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.
Technology is properly defined as any application of science to accomplish a function. The
science can be leading edge or well established and the function can have high visibility or
be significantly more mundane but it is all technology, and its exploitation is the foundation
of all competitive advantage.
Technology-based planning is what was used to build the US industrial giants before WWII and is
what was used to transform the US into a superpower. It was not economic-based planning.