Assignment MTintro.2

According to Dictionary.com, there are three definitions for the word, technology:

tech·nol·o·gy (tk-nl-j)
n. pl. tech·nol·o·gies
1 a . The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives.
b. The scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or industrial objective.
2 Electronic or digital products and systems considered as a group: a store specializing in office technology.
3 Anthropology. The body of knowledge available to a society that is of use in fashioning implements, practicing manual arts and skills, and extracting or collecting materials.

In this definition there is nothing that refers to the development of communication, which includes language and writing. The definitions only refer to scientific advances in commercial and industrial use or electronic products. Before taking this class, when I thought of the word technology, I would not think of anything written, but I looked at technology as “new computers,” “concept cars,” and “the latest ipod.” After taking this class and reading Goody’s excerpt from The Power of Written Tradition, I think the definition of technology should be expanded. It should be changed to accommodate the basics of anything that furthers the advancements of the human race; which includes the development of communication. Goody raises a great argument that without the written language, there could not be the development of new inventions and the latest electronics and gadgets. He argues, “Before you can put the Larousse [French dictionary] on a CD-ROM you have to organize the material in writing, then type or scan it into the computer, and finally read it.” Without writing, the technologies that most people think of today (computers, artificial intelligence, robots, etc) would not exist. The development of written commutation is the first step in designing and fabricating some of the most advanced technologies that are available today. For example, aerospace engineers would not have been able to design and develop the space shuttle without the technology of writing. How would they be able to express their ideas to fabricators and mechanics that physically build the shuttle without writing blueprints or manuals? Even in personal cicumstanes, I would not be able to use this computer that I am typing this paper on as effectively if I didn’t know any forms of reading and writing. I think people today rely heavily on the written language (instruction manuals as an example) to actually use physical technology such as the computer I am using right now. Without writing our society would be lost and unable to communicate as effectively as we do in the today’s modern world. Goody also contends that in the post-Bronze Age societies from 3000 B.C.E., there was a huge gap in the sophistication and technology of people between literates and illiterates. He states, It is reflected in the split between high and low culture as well as in a variety of dimensions of differentiation, or stratification, of styles of life, and has been fundamental to history of “advanced” societies. Even looking at the historical aspect of writing one can see that without writing, societies would be culturally and technologically inept. Writing and other forms of communication should be expanded into the definition of technology. Just because it is not a physical form of technology, it does not mean that it doesn’t continue to change and evolve just as all other technologies do.