What is Technology?

Technology is the study of tools, equipment, and other physical objects that are used by humans for purposes such as communication, construction, agriculture, health, or entertainment.

Usually technology is a product of science and engineering, though it may be developed in other ways as well (e.g., by applying results of other disciplines, such as mathematics or physics).

Technology is a goal-oriented process that involves designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means. Generally, technologies must satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety.

Problem-solving is a subset of technology that focuses on creating solutions to specific problems in a given context. It requires a systematic approach to the problem’s causes, identifies and evaluates a range of potential solutions, and selects one that best meets the goals set by the design team.

The underlying decision-making process for solving problems is often much more fundamental than the actual problem-solving itself, a practice known as’making technology’. It includes the active participation of a technologist in determining what a given problem is, rather than having that determined by someone else.

In the context of problem-solving, technology is a tool that makes it possible to efficiently route people’s finite energy and attention. Hence, it is a pathway to an end; that end is the desired outcome.

Technology is also a social system, in that it is shaped by the needs of society. It is synergistic, symbiotic, co-dependent, and co-influential with culture; in other words, it influences, shapes, and produces society.