Diversity and Progress

Chinese ship – Keying interested and rivaled British who thought they were superior Technology did not always move from West to East; industrial to nonindustrial economies Technology is created wherever as humans need it; it does not originate in one place and diffuse Many believe technology is the way to improving living conditions; physically and socially Different societies use technology to pursue material abundance, social order, and cultural

meaning Societies differ in the vision or ideology they develop about how to use technology to pursue

these three goals Western notion of technological progress is only one of several ways

The Prime Directive

Strove not to privilege technology of one culture over another While all human societies have technology, each employs it differently to affect social or

religious aspects Different ways of spreading wealth: communism, 1% Different ways of communicating, spreading information, organizing knowledge

Abundance, Order, and Meaning

Humans relied on technology to generate food, wealth, and material abundance necessary to sustain population and develop culture

Technology is not always just used in a practical manner Some technology conveys messages about the person that owns or uses it; wealth, skill, gender,

power, values, emotions As with people, societies can convey things with their technology too; weapons, roads, maps Across history, people have used technology to create and maintain social and political order Aztec: ruling and warrior class wore elaborate outfits with feathers China: emperor displayed power by standardizing language, law, and religion Societies also use technology to create beliefs and values about themselves and relationship to

nature and universe Pyramids have no economic purpose; expresses beliefs about afterlife Boats are more than just transportation; also navigating role in universe West has emphasized abundance of materials, other cultures have emphasized other things

Diagramming Technological Ideology

Technological ideology is dependent on which of the three beliefs the culture holds important How a society uses its technology: what goals and purposes it hopes to achieve As a group comes to dominate a particular society, it articulates an ideology that justified its

authority; an ideology that focuses more heavily on one of the three aspects than others Goal is to become a good society: each differing ideology has a different ideal society and

method of how to achieve it Absolute Monarchy: material abundance and culture support the political order of monarchy Some societies believe that new technology will change social order

Americans embraced technological innovation as the way to Democracy PG 14