How Technology Is Changing the Human Condition

Technology is the total field of any human skills, practices, devices, methods, and techniques used in the creation of products or services or in the achievement of specific goals, for example scientific research. Some of the areas technology affects are transportation, information technology, computer science, medical science, and manufacturing. Although technology affects all aspects of life, there are many areas where particular types of technology are developing. This article briefly describes some of the more prominent areas where technological developments are occurring today.

One area in which new technologies are affecting people is in the area of applied science. Applied science refers to the application of scientific principles to practical ends such as product design, engineering design, industrial design, material science, etc. The scope of applied science is growing rapidly each year because of advances in scientific research, development of new technologies for specific purposes, and the increasing need for skilled workers in many of these fields. One area where applied science is creating a significant number of new jobs is in applied biology. New technologies in this area are developing cell organ culture technologies for the study of disease and health.

Another area in which technological developments are impacting people is in the area of scientific knowledge. Scientific knowledge can be defined as the means by which a group of people uses scientific information to reach a particular conclusion about a particular topic. Many scientific studies do not use new technologies. For example, scientific knowledge about the structure of the molecular building blocks of matter, such as silicon, carbon, hydrogen, and helium, was carefully studied using various technologies over the last century without the use of new technologies.

In the area of higher education, technological changes have had a major impact on teaching and learning. The creation of new information technology tools, such as electronic whiteboards, has made it possible to convey information in a more hands-on manner. Moreover, the use of digital maps and GPS devices is also changing the way that science students study the world around them. Many of the old model thinking methods of determining things like gravity and velocity are being replaced with new scientific knowledge based on technological developments in things like sensors and data collection.

Technological Systems Development can also be seen in the field of medicine. While much of the scientific literature of the past century was written by men who could not speak or read English, today we have scientific jargon and scientific translators to help us communicate the ideas of science to the general public. This is not the only change taking place in the areas of medicine and nursing. Throughout much of the twentieth century, American society was dominated by the traditional understanding of neolithic medicine, which believed that disease was caused by a mental disorder, a psychological flaw, a spiritual malady, or a bodily affliction, and that illness could be prevented and controlled through a series of complex therapeutic steps, including diet, behavior therapy, and medical surveillance.

Today, the field of nursing has begun to explore more technologically based models of medical care, as well as more sophisticated ways of collecting and organizing health information. New technologies such as electronic health records have expanded the scope of medical records and improved the ways in which they are managed and stored. Similarly, medical surveillance has taken the place of the blanket strategy used for decades, which kept records in dark places with little review or scrutiny. Technological Systems Development is changing the face of healthcare all around the world.