问答题 Technology is the application of scientific method and knowledge to industry to satisfy our material needs and wants. This results in new processes and in new products, such as washing machine, record players, motor ears, electronic computers, nuclear weapons and space rockets. A technologist has the scientific know-how, or technique, for making and doing things. The know-how may be original, as it is devised for a specific purpose, or it may be inherited as the accumulated skill and knowledge of generations of specialists.
We live in a technological society. Almost every aspect of life in the modem world is influenced (for better or worse) by your technological surroundings. 46) Communications, transportation, manufacturing, mining and exploration, the service industries, medicine, agriculture-all are dominated bi methods and apparatus which are the results of technological advances. The basis of technology is science. 47) Without the fundamental discoveries and understanding provided by science, technology would be a hit-or-miss affair, lacking direction and making little progress. One can argue that our society is beginning to suffer from too much technology, but we will never return to the primitive life of our forefather-technology is with us and it will remain with us.
Just as it is important to study history so that we can appreciate how the world came to its present state, it is important to learn some of the basic concepts of science so that we can appreciate the role that technology plays in modem society. 48) For without some knowledge of the scientific principles by which technology operates. one can neither an. pc with technology nor assist in directing, it into the proper channels.
In recent times, we have had the general attitude that whatever is technologically possible should be done. 49) It is now becoming increasingly apparent that our scientific and technological progress has outstripped our capacity to perform or absorb everything that is possible. More and more, we will have decisions to make: in what directions should the thrust of our new discoveries be made? The situation requires that we make intelligent decisions-decisions based on a knowledge and an understanding of what can be done, what will be the benefits, and will be the consequences. Scientists do not make these decisions; people make them. 50) It is therefore incumbent on every individual to acquire the basic knowledge that will permit him to participate intelligently in directing the course of our technological advancement.