Science And Technology

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) died just as the American Civil War came to a full blow with the Confederate forces crossed the Potomac River to attack Federal targets in Virginia and Maryland.

Today, beside his political legacy, there is also the legacy of his experimental spiritual and intellectual pursuits through communion with nature.

He aspired to demonstrate his pursuit of the divine through communion with nature as a poet and also as a scientist.

In later years, his “journal” was filled with scientific observations and insights that became an important inspiration to the modern day environmental movements. Through both art and science, his transcendentalist perspective a century later became the conscious of an individual, as much as the character of a nation, our nation, America.

“Direct your eyes right inward, and you’ll find

A thousand regions in your mind

Yet undiscovered.” Travel them, and be Experts in home-cosmography”

Voice Of Thoreau
“It is possible to believe that all the past is but the beginning of a beginning, and that all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn. It is possible to believe that all that the human mind has ever accomplished is but the dream before the awakening….”

So said, H.G. Wells, english novelist and visionary, in 1902 in his article titled ‘Vision of the Future’ in a journal called “Nature”.

Poetry, music, art, religion, science, and philosophy, much is rooted in inspiration by nature.

A deep appreciation for the laws of nature, and interconnectedness of all life on earth as we know are important for sustenance of our cultural heritage of technology innovation. Such a heritage takes us back to such great minds of modern science and technology, as Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, C.V.Raman, and Albert Einstein (just to mention a few such “great minds”) must also be part of such heritage of natural philosophy. It is important thus to note that before there was modern science and technology, there was natural philosophy.

In parallel, and often totally integrated to the process of science and technology innovation, were such great minds in philosophy and arts that existed in America. In that world of the past included practical minded founding fathers of America as Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and George Mason.

Afterward, there were other “great minds” rooted in natural philosophy such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It is from such “great minds” that our heritage of deep appreciation of nature comes forward to our era at the gates of 21st Century America’s knowledge economy and our spirit of innovation. Quest for clean water and associated “natural habitats” to sustain clean water comes from this heritage here in America.

Thoreau integrated art and science and provided a philosophical anchor for many 20th century leaders in community, arts, and science including, Martin Luther King (community leader), Gandhi (community leader), Tagore (literary voice and poet), and B.F.Skinner (scientist). Many today considers Thoreau is the father of the modern environmental movement.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discovered that I had no lived”.

Technology refers to the collection of tools that make it easier to use, create, manage and exchange information.

In the earlier times, the use of tools by human beings was for the process of discovery and evolution. Tools remained the same for a long time in the earlier part of the history of mankind but it was also the complex human behaviors and tools of this era that modern language began as believed by many archeologists.

Technology refers the knowledge and utilization of tools, techniques and systems in order to serve a bigger purpose like solving problems or making life easier and better. Its significance on humans is tremendous because technology helps them adapt to the environment. The development of high technology including computer technology’s Internet and the telephone has helped conquer communication barriers and bridge the gap between people all over the world. While there are advantages to constant evolution of technology, their evolution has also seen the increase of its destructive power as apparent in the creation of weapons of all kinds.

In a broader sense, technology affects societies in the development of advanced economies, making life more convenient to more people that have access to such technology. But while it continues to offer better means to man’s day to day living, it also has unwanted results such as pollution, depletion of natural resources to the great disadvantage of the planet. Its influence on society can also be seen in how people use technology and its ethical significance in the society. Debates on the advantages and disadvantages of technology constantly arise questioning the impact of technology on the improvement or worsening of human condition. Some movements have even risen to criticize its harmful effects on the environment and its ways of alienating people. Still, there are others that view technology as beneficial to progress and the human condition. In fact, technology has evolved to serve not just human beings but also other members of the animal species as well.

Technology is often seen as a consequence of science and engineering. Through the years, new technologies and methods have been developed through research and development. The advancements of both science and technology have resulted to incremental development and disruptive technology. An example of incremental development is the gradual replacement of compact discs with DVD. While disruptive developments are automobiles replacing horse carriages. The evolution of technologies marks the significant development of other technologies in different fields, like nano technology, biotechnology, robotics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence and information technology.

The rise of technologies is a result of present day innovations in the varied fields of technology. Some of these technologies combine power to achieve the same goals. This is referred to as converging technologies. Convergence is the process of combining separate technologies and merging resources to be more interactive and user friendly. An example of this would be high technology with telephony features as well as data productivity and video combined features. Today technical innovations representing progressive developments are emerging to make use of technology’s competitive advantage. Through convergence of technologies, different fields combine together to produce similar goals.