When I consider the question, “Does our world create technology or does technology create our world?” it lends itself to another infamous question, “What came first the chicken or the egg?” There may not be one definitive answer for either question, however I believe in most instances our world creates technology. Throughout Misa’s (2011) book, “Leonardo: Technology & Culture from the Renaissance to the Present” gave numerous examples how the needs of the world caused technology to be created.
Over the centuries there were different world players that drove technology to meet its needs. In the age of Leonardo da Vinci it was the courts. I was surprised to learn that Leonardo da Vinci was seen more in his day as a military engineer and architect than an artist. He provided the courts the technology to attain victories in battle. The courts in the Renaissance view of technology were different than industry and commerce’s views in later centuries. As Misa (2011) states, “Their dreams and desires focused the era’s technologists on warfare, city building, courtly entertainment and dynastic displays” (p. 13). I saw firsthand one of Leonardo da Vinci’s incredible technological feats, the double spiral staircase in the Chateau de Chambord in France.
The next age for technology came driven by commerce. In this era was capitalistic, but it was not industrialists that led the movement. The expansion for commerce in Europe began in Italy and then spread to Antwerp, Amsterdam and London. The later cities mentioned flourished primarily due to the trading networks it developed throughout Asia, Africa and the New World. The technologies developed during this age as Misa (2011) explained “innovative ship designs, import-processing techniques, and a host of financial innovations reflected these commercial impulses, just as attack chariots, court automata, and princely palaces expressed the court vision of Renaissance patrons of technologies” (p. 34). There was a genuine purpose why these technologies were developed in order to meet the needs of enhancing commerce. One example of this ingenuity was the design of the Dutch fluyts for the herring industry.
The first and second industrial revolution also had drivers that created technology to meet the needs for its purposes. For empire building in the mid to late 1800s, as Misa (2011) states “New technologies were critical to both the penetration phase of empire, in which the British deployed steam-powered gunboats and malaria-suppressing quinine to establish settlements inland beyond the coastal trading zones” (p. 98). The second industrial revolution spawned new technologies in which technologist focused on improving, stabilizing and entrenching existing systems rather than entirely new ones. This was done by patent laws, corporate ownership, industrial research laboratories and engineering education. The drivers from this era were industrialists using science and systems. In 1900 there were hundreds of laboratories. General Electric was at a period of time where its Edison-era patents were expired. It employed a significantly important engineer Willis Whitney who conducted research work relevant to the company’s commercial concerns. His leadership was the driver of GE’s technological breakthrough of the gas-filled light bulb.
In the twentieth century, technology was born in a great part by the needs of the military. Misa (2011) called this age “The Means of Destruction” (p. 190). The many technologies developed including the nuclear bomb, transistors to the Defense Department’s ARPANET. It is interesting to consider what our world would be like if there weren’t any wars. Would we have the same technology that we do now?
There are examples where through discovery technology creates our world and truly changes the culture. As Misa (2011) explains “Renaissance-era geometrical perspective and moveable-type printing through to today’s Internet, change how humans communicate” (p. 305). It immeasurable changed everything. Each one of these technologies altered the world into a totally different place than it was prior to the discovery. Just think, how differently our world would look if all of the computers were removed from the earth (including cell phones). How we work, communicate and learn would be altered significantly.
New technologies come from many different agents of change. These agents include as Misa (2011) describes, “Agents of change, such as inventors, engineers , industrialists, government officials, and even social movements, typically create new demands through marketing or advertising efforts and by enlisting the promotion, procurement, and regulatory activities of government” (p. 306). Others that were driving new technologies were the modernists, whom spearhead efforts to shape our world into the modern culture.
It’s interesting to consider the different geographical regions and why some of these regions spurred and became a breeding ground for innovation. In the same sense, it is interesting why some geographic regions squelched innovation. An excellent example of this difference in one region promoting innovation and another stalling innovation is the region of Western Europe and Asia regarding the printing press. The invention of the printing press was one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind. Information could be shared within a region as well as throughout the world. Moveable type was first developed in China by Pi Sheng in 11th century and later perfected by Wang Cheng in 1314. What should
have spread throughout the world was blocked by the Arab world, due to its belief that the words of Allah must only be done by handwriting. Interestingly, Misa (2011) found “The first Arabic-language book printed in Cairo, Egypt, did not appear until 1825” (p. 20). Over one hundred years after Cheng’s innovation on moveable type, Johann Gutenberg was recognized in 1450 as being the inventor of moveable type. The governments in Europe instead of suppressing innovation like the Arab world embraced it.
Other Western European countries also were breeding grounds, including Holland that developed shipping "traffics,” which led to global dominance. It needed technological advances in ship building to accommodate the needs of commercial trading vessels. The British Empire is another example of being a geographic region stronghold of innovation and technology. England had several things in its favor. One it had access to raw materials through the settlement of colonies and another place to sell goods. It also had the resources needed to industrialize including coal, iron and multiple sources of water power. One can also look at the 20th century as another time for certain geographic regions having a focus on technology and innovation. The Cold War brought the USSR and United States in a contest to see who could invent the first spaceship to land on the moon and develop weapons that would protect its country from the other county. In the 21st century we now have globalization as the driver of spurring innovation throughout the world, no longer tying this to a specific country or region.
There are numerous examples of how technology has evolved. In the Science and Systems age, the evolution of technological systems emerged by now stabilizing large-scale systems rather than inventing new ones. Leaders in science fought this evolution including Edison and Thomson. It was industrialists that willed this change like J.P. Morgan and Higginson. It brought on the birth of organized capitalism. This evolution of technology also evolved society. As Misa (2004) states “built from science-based technologies, altered merely how goods were produced and consumed but also how industrial society evolved” (p.128). A breakthrough concept for this time period what was done only in the laboratory, were now transfigured into consumer products.
Other examples of how technology has evolved are the numerous examples of how the same technology evolved into different purposes for the same product/innovation. Throughout the centuries, many of the technologies that were developed were specific to fighting wars. These technologies then evolved for uses for the public. One example of this is the ARPANET evolved to the worldwide web.
In conclusion, Misa (2011) novel “Leonardo Technology & Culture from the Renaissance to the Present” was a very interesting historical perspective about technology. I must admit when I first started reading the book, I thought “What does Leonardo da Vinci have to do with computers?!” I realize that I had a very narrow understanding of the definition of “technology,” which doesn’t only mean “computers.” I now appreciate his broad interpretation of the word “technology.” As Misa (2011) explains “my underlying goal has been to display the variety of technologies, to describe how they changed across time, and to understand how they interacted with societies and culture” (p. 300). Technology has impacted all our lives throughout the ages and because of this it is important that we understand the historical perspective. I cannot imagine what other technological advances will happen in the next five years and how differently our world will change.
