Question

article on technology for better life

Answer 1

                             Technology for better Life

     Technology is based on sciences and depends on engineering to come to people.  Science establishes the relationships (laws) among various substances and physical quantities in different situations.  Technology tries to make an improved product, or service using a more suitable method or substance or law.  The aim is always to improve the quality of the product, and decrease the cost of the product or service.  A technology that is not yet feasible, necessary or economical at the present time, perhaps will be feasible and economical later in future.

      People live in societies.  Due to individual and collective desires and due to natural processes of evolution of cultures, there is a steady progress towards an improved life at all levels in the society.  The standard of living, products and services used and quality of life steadily improves.

   Technology is the a standardized method of realizing a formula using a class of materials, and a particular technique related to precision or production. Suppose a particular technology is employed in manufacturing & engineering of electricity generation or distribution.  If a new semiconductor material better than Silicon is found, or, a more precise way of making a more complex electronic chip is known, then using that will be the new technology.  Coal based heating in electric power generation plant uses traditional technology.  Atomic power plants use a more advanced nuclear fission process based method to heat water.  So there is a leap in technology to generate a long term based safer, cheaper electric power.  The hazards posed by newer technology is a problem that more advanced technologies have to solve.

   The manufactured products are always meant for the people in the society or for the top rich and creamy layer of the society.  The people accept the product and its technology or reject it depending on convenience of use and cost.  Then technology is improved to bring another product to satisfy the needs of the people.

   The science (and research), technology (newer and improved), engineering and society (use, accept/reject) cycle continues for ever in the world. 

    When people used to burn coal and wood for cooking in kitchen, there were many problems.  New technologies brought in LPG stoves, Biogas based heating, electric stoves, electric cookers, microwave ovens and solar cookers.  Each product utilizes a new technology (method, raw material, design) and gives better service at higher efficiency, convenience, at lower cost to the people, than the earlier technology.  This is what we mean by technology for people.

    Reaching people through its offices and providing its services to people became difficult for the government as the population and problems increased.  Using computers, Internet, telecommunications, centralized service providing stations, any time e-services have made the traditional government as e-government.  This has been possible through over a period of time.

    Improvements in medical diagnosis and treatments have been made through many generations of technology.  A disease that used to take months to diagnose and cure are now diagnosed and cured within hours or days.

   The facility of communication with relations and friends was difficult, time consuming and depended on weather and on other people.  Then postal services, fixed telephone, telegrams, were available.  Later cordless and mobile phones were available.  Now a more interactive web based services and phones are combined in one gadget.

   Thus the main Responsibility of technology towards modern society is to build better quality, more efficient, more convenient, safer, more pleasing and more satisfying products or services in an optimal way.  Role of technology is to find a new way to make products and methods cheaper and to make available products which are only on paper.  Also, the role extends to mitigating hazards posed by employing new technologies.

   As new technology brings in new products and services, the people get used to it, and later they look for some thing more.  So the role of technology will be to search further again for newer technologies.   Thus technology brings in continuous improvement in the life of people in a society through continuous improvement in products and services.