Technology is the devices and machines used in society, and the practical knowledge society has about its material existence and methodologies for applying technical knowledge. Technology has several important impacts on the cycle of prosperity.
Arrow A
As Thomas Malthus correctly concluded, food production is critical to achieving prosperity. Domestication of crops and animals is widely credited as the impetus for human civilization. Excess crop production led freed some from food production for other pursuits. Somewhere between the sixth and ninth century (CE) in Europe, a three-crop rotation system was discovered that enriched the soil and significantly improved outputs. Knowledge of crop production, including issues like irrigation, fertilization, and soil management, is one form of technology. The Green Revolution in crop breeding and more recent efforts at genetic crop modifications are more recent examples.
Technology, as it relates to tools, has also had significant impacts. The creation of durable metal tools used in farming was an important factor. Changes as seemingly innocuous as the teardrop-shaped harness for horses (circa tenth century) dramatically increased the power efficiency of horses. Waterwheel technology used in grain milling was studied, perfected, and promoted by economic-development-minded Benedictine monks in the early part of the second millennium. Then, in the past two centuries, we’ve seen the rise of machines with magnitudes more power than a team of horses.
There are more indirect improvements in food supply from technology. Transportation technology has played a critical role in improving food distribution from grower to consumer. The development of waterways, overland trade routes, and the transportation devices that used them led to an improved food supply. Seaworthy ships that could carry large cargo were among the first major advances. More recently, refrigeration and packaging technology has substantially extended the useful life of foods from the grower through the supply chain to the consumer, radically reducing the spoilage of harvested food. Routing technology for vehicles and instantaneous knowledge of changes in food demands through communication technologies has radically increased the efficiency of food distribution.
Arrow E
The impact of technology on human life is the subject matter of entire books. Here are some quick observations.
Medical – Medical knowledge and techniques, particularly in the last couple of centuries, have had an astonishing impact on treating and even eliminating diseases. Medical equipment accomplishes tasks that were unimaginable a generation ago. This extends the length and quality of life to unprecedented levels. People with deformities and injuries that would have been utterly debilitating can often now lead satisfying, productive lives.
Shelter – Advances in construction of human dwellings and communities have created the possibility of people living without worry from natural threats that have plagued humanity throughout the ages. Medical knowledge gained over the past century has radically improved the sanitation of our dwellings. Technology has also played a key role in reducing several varieties of pollution brought on by dense urbanization in recent decades.
Communication – Technology has greatly expanded literacy and human learning. In Europe, the invention of printing technology greatly expanded literacy and caused an explosion in learning. The early nineteenth century brought the invention of the telegraph, making possible instantaneous communication between distant locations for the first time. Iterations of change would put us on the path to today, where we can communicate with every major populated area on the earth through wireless handheld devices, making incomprehensibly large volumes of information available to billions of people.
Transportation – Until the nineteenth century, land travel was limited to the fastest horse and sea travel to the fastest wind-powered ship. The world has been shrunk by advances in travel, allowing people to learn in distant lands and to experience other regions and cultures in unprecedented ways. Transportation also has made delivering goods, from the essential to the frivolous, to one’s doorstep an unremarkable reality. It has expanded the range of work opportunities for people by making it possible for a person’s home and work to be miles apart.
Labor Saving and Entertainment Enhancing Devices – Our technology has been so effective at creating consumer goods that people now feel overwhelmed with the choices and want to simplify. Technology has driven the price of such options to levels that even some people we today classify as poor can live more comfortable luxurious lives than reasonably wealthy people did a century ago. This has enabled people to indulge personal interests and passions in historically unprecedented ways.
This is just a sampling. The list goes on. I do not intend to suggest that these changes are all unmitigated positive developments. Yet, it is worth noting that very few people would be interested in returning to a world without these developments. More on these issues later.
Arrow F
If we move in the counterclockwise direction in the diagram, we see the impact of technology on economic growth and wealth. Technological advances lead to decreased quantities of time, labor, materials, and errors in producing and delivering goods and services. Purchasers reward producers with sales. That generates profits which are either plowed into more efforts at efficient production or paid out in dividends to stockholders. Profits usually mean appreciation of stock values as well. Meanwhile, consumers experience declining costs, thus freeing up disposable income for savings or other expenditures. Wealth is created by expanding profits through efficiency or by reductions in consumer prices.
Arrow I
Technology facilitates trade by improving infrastructure and developing devices like ships, ground transport, planes, pipelines, and fiber optic cables, to name a few. The ability to transport large quantities of goods improves the food supply distribution and brings larger numbers of people into market exchange networks. Communication technology synchronizes worldwide market functions.
These arrows have all dealt with outputs from technology. Two deal with inputs.
Arrow H
Technology is driven by human capital. Each new technology builds on and combines previous technologies to create an increasingly complex cumulative effect. At the core of technological innovation are well-disciplined and educated minds of well-fed and physically sound individuals devoted to systematic experimentation and innovation. Each technological advance usually necessitates upgrading society-wide competencies to take advantage of the technology effectively.
Arrow D
Also essential to technological change is wealth. Society must have sufficient wealth to support significant numbers of its populace devoted to such specialized learning and work. Technological change often requires accessing and experimenting with raw materials. This, too, requires financial resources.
We have only skimmed the surface of technology’s impact, but hopefully, this gives us enough to get a sense of technology’s role. Next up is the food supply.
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