The Nature of Technology Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Characteristics of Technology
Illustrative Examples from Technology
The explanation of why history unfolded so differently on different continents, and the resulting fortunes of different cultural groups because of this, is an excellent example of the socio-technological perspective explained above. Briefly, the interaction of geography and biogeography and the technological developments that were made possible due to this, has been argued convincingly as the basis for significant ethnic differences, rather than any genetic predispositions. Jared Diamond's popular book Guns, germs and steel: A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years, details this argument, and centralises food production technologies as a critical feature in the history of the world.
New Zealand is different: Chemical milestones in New Zealand history, edited by Denis Hogan and Bryce Williamson, provides a series of historical examples of the inter-relationship between technology and society. In particular, it describes some of the chemistry and technology that has contributed to the development of New Zealand's current economic, research, and development base. This book also forms the basis for a website called An history of technological innovation in New Zealand, which can be found at www.techhistory.co.nz/. Examples provided include such things as the story of aerial topdressing in New Zealand. This provides an illustrative example of how technology is embedded in society and the resulting benefits and losses associated with this. Aerial topdressing is presented here as an innovation that literally 'took off' due to the need to make grassland more economically viable and the availability of surplus tiger moths and pilots after the war. While this was undoubtedly a success for increasing land productivity that resulted in a significant rise in the standard of living in New Zealand, the destruction of hundreds of square miles of forest (with little use being made of the timber in most cases), and subsequent overgrazing leading to extensive soil erosion and runoff into lakes and waterways. Overall this technological innovation then could also be viewed as an ecological disaster.
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