Culture's Influence on Technology
Culture and technology are in a constantly expanding positive feedback loop. The greatest changes in human culture are almost always the result of a technological innovation. However, a technology capable of a cultural shift can only have come from the culture itself. Without the culture's choice to refine the technology, the practical applications would have been left as only fleeting ideas; technology will only be developed if the culture has some immediate and apparent use for it. Although a culture will develop a technology based on its inherent valence towards a particular application, that culture cannot possibly fathom the ultimate repercussions of its collective decision. The inherent multiplier effect in the feedback loop along with unforeseen applications of the technology will guide the "trajectories of cultural evolution" (Ehrlich 255) in completely unexpected ways. Even though cultures can and do have an effect on their course through history, it is only slight when compared to the monstrous effect that their technologies have on them.
The nature and importance of this type of self-propagating relationship are described in Paul Ehrlich's book "Human Nature: Genes, Culture, and the Human Prospect." Ehrlich describes his own opinion on human development and feedback loops in the following passage: "It is important to know what shapes the course of history, how that influences the evolution of our natures, and how that in turn feeds back on evolutionary history itself." (Ehrlich 254) The statement briefly describes the general form of the positive feedback loop for human development throughout history. The influences he refers to could be anything from the environment to culture...
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...e the resources and could not carry a kiln. They did, however, have an immediate and apparent use for the chariot, which could increase their speed and power by an innumerable factor.
Although culture is able to guide the technological innovations that are borne from it, humanity does not seem to have much of a say in its course through history. Each step through time is a result of an infinite amount of steps before it all pushing history towards an unknown end. Even the individual who invents an integral technology is only a very small ripple in a tide of inexorable humanity.
Works Cited:
Chant, Colin. "Chapter 2:Greece" in "Pre-Industrial Cities and Technology." Routledge Press, 1999. pp. 48-80.
Ehrlich,Paul R. "Ch. 11: Gods, Dive-Bombers, and Bureaucracy" in "Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect." Island Press, 2000. pp. 253-279.
Press. 1996, pp. 113-117. 132-148. The. Ehrlich, Paul R., “Gods, Dive-Bombers, and Bureaucracy” in “Human Natures: A New Perspective” (New York: New York: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect” Island Press, 2000, pp.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick reads a poem to the narrator about a castle that reflects Roderick in appearances. The poem is titled “The Haunted Palace,” and the setting is a castle, called Thought. The castle is described as having yellow banners, two windows, and a
historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; Culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning elements of further action.”
Between 1996 and 2006, Canada 's teenage pregnancy rate steadily declined by 37%. However, since 2006, Canada 's teenage pregnancy rate has been on the rise, increasing from 27.9 pregnancies per 1,000 teens, to 28.2. This is of great concern to Canada, for teenage pregnancy has many health, social, and media issues. Therefore, teenage pregnancy in Canada requires a solution, that will prevent such pregnancies, and support the teen parents
All moderately sized towns should have a skatepark for three main reasons: it will make the town look like a nice place to live, the kids in the town won’t be getting into trouble for skating around town, and it is a lot safer than skating in the streets. In countless cities around the world, well-built skateparks have also been proven to be valuable community assets with tremendous benefits. Instead of viewing skateboarding as a negative problem that needs to be solved, these forward-thinking communities have found ways to embrace these sports while showcasing their artistic and acrobatic spirit(“The Benefits”).
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Moore, David Scott. The Dependent Gene: The Fallacy of Nature/nurture. New York: Times, 2002. Print.
On September 9th, 2017 at approximately 7 p.m., I went to Gracedale Public Park to carefully conduct my observation on the individuals, who were at the park and their specific activities in the one hour of time. When I got there, the weather was beautiful with soft winds, a clear sky and with some dim sunlight. The park was full of people of all ages. Though, there were more kids than adults and some teenagers. There were many bicycles and strollers parked beside the tree I sat under. After a couple of minutes, the park filled up with more and more individuals and everyone seemed busy doing their own actions.
In today's society, the way in which information is spread drastically differs from that of yesterday, especially in different parts of the world - more specifically, the Commonwealth of Nations.
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The UNICEF defines adolescent pregnancy as “a teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant”. Adolescent pregnancy has become a national issue as multiple places all over the world are being affected by this. The nature of this problem is that many teenage girls are having children, and as a result many are dropping out of school, getting low paying jobs, have poor housing situation, and are most likely on some type of welfare. Yet, it does not stop at just the mother the child of the teenage mother will most likely grow up in poverty, without of father, and is proven to be more likely involved with crime, drugs, and alcohol. This issue has various high risk factors, such as single parent homes, sexual abuse, and lack of education. Although, along
Culture has been a part of our society, and way of life, forever. It is almost impossible to come up with an idea that isn’t influenced by culture. As new technology is introduced into a society, the culture reacts in a positive or negative way and is thus changed forever. Despite the fact that we cannot really ignore that there are a number of ways in which technology negatively impacts our society, for the better part it has greatly helped to make lives better. It has also helped us a great deal to be able to save on many resources such as time and money and these are great benefits that cannot be ignored. It has also worked well in bringing unity into the world by turning it into a global village which has in turn helped people to more easily overcome their cultural, racial and continental barriers. Like we saw in the case of Ireland where technological advancements have shaped and molded the country into a completely new one that is better than the one it was before. Technology is made and used in such a variety of ways because many people who use the technology of today come from all walks of life and have different necessities, so to compensate for that technology must adapt to all different cultures. Consequently, as cultures change so does the technology they develop. Ultimately, advances in technology directly affect how cultures evolve, complex interactions are all the result of the dynamic and perpetual relationship between technology and
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