How Technology Shapes the Mind Science of Today
Technology is the totality of any human methods, skills, techniques, and processes utilized in the creation of new products or services or in the achievement of previously identified goals, including scientific innovation. Technological change is often accompanied by rapid societal change, because the process of innovation requires broad societal input. Technological change can be implemented with minimal cost, due to its scale effects. Technological change can also create significant opportunities for economic advancement and improvement.
The term “technological innovations” describes a wide range of innovations that have an effect on technology today. Some of the most common types of technological innovations include computer sciences, artificial intelligence, information science, information technology, and applied research in all of these areas. One example of an important milestone in the history of human technological progress is the discovery of fire. People did not have the fire to cook food in the stone age; they used rocks and wood to keep warm. However, the discovery of fire changed the way people lived, creating the possibility of agriculture and marked improvements in urban planning and security.
During the industrial revolution of the 20th century, a rapid pace of technological change occurred throughout the world. Manufacturing became an important part of human life. Workers were no longer workers, but rather owners of productive assets. These assets included factories, trucks, machines, and other technological systems. Technological systems are any systems created or employed by humans in order to facilitate the efficient production of goods and services that humans need or want.
Industrialization, along with the subsequent emergence of enormous new powers for which humans served as resource providers, dramatically changed the global landscape. Industrialization altered the relationships between humans and their environment. Technological systems allowed humans to exploit nature to their advantage. Humans began to clear away natural habitats and utilize natural resources to meet the needs of their labor. As a result of these and other changes, human interaction with the natural world has significantly decreased over the last century. Today, human interaction with nature is centered around “green living,” a movement begun in the early 1970s that seeks to produce environmentally sustainable products and practices, diminishing the negative impact of humans on the earth’s ecosystems.
In order to understand the mind’s role in technology, it is necessary to take a closer look at how technology affects human thought. A wide range of human endeavors are motivated by a desire to create something better, a drive to excel, or to explore and exert authority and control over a particular aspect of life. A variety of human endeavors have been developed to build on these underlying ideas. However, when humans attempt to apply any of these technologies, they face a perplexing challenge: how to combine technological knowledge and human creativity to create new and improved systems.
Engines, software, memory, processors, digital devices, and communication networks are only a few of the technologies that have been developed to help solve this problem. One such example is brain mapping, which applies tools from neuroscientists to explain how the human mind functions in natural environments. Another example is visual intelligence, which applies techniques from cognitive science to improve human quality of life through new ways of interacting with information systems. Still another example is digital information exchange, which applies methods from economics to create better communication systems. The ultimate aim of all these technologies, therefore, is to enhance human efficiency and effectiveness in their environment and society. As applied in today’s world, however, mind science is only one facet of the broad field of mind science.