Technology's Impact on the Past, Present, and Future

1196 Words3 Pages

Technology has continually transformed the way the human race lives and interacts with one another. From learning how to better cultivate the land that allowed for hunters and foragers to settle and grow their population, to being able to send out a tweet to millions of people all over the world, technology has transformed human interactions and expectations. It has allowed for people to collaborate and work with others across the world in real time and allowed businesses the ability to globalize. This paper will explore the impact of technology on the human race before the 1800’s, and how it affects our modern society, and the possible implications on future generations. Technology allowed the human race to transform from hunters-gatherers to farmers. Around 9,000 BC., humans learned how to cultivate the land, how to collect seeds, animal husbandry, and other techniques that increased crop production. As agriculture and animal inventory needed to be tracked to successfully harvest a crop, clay tokens were used as a primitive means of mathematics. “The earliest tokens were simple shapes and were comparatively unadorned; they stood for basic agricultural commodities such as grain and sheep. “A specific shape of token always represented a specific quantity of a particular item.” [3] As tokens were used and standardized, records of transactions could be performed when goods were bought and sold. This record keeping technology helped foster trade and contracts between people. As larger cities and states grew, the need for technology became ever more necessary. The next major invention was the abacus, an early form of the calculator that allowed large figures to be calculated. Around 2400 BC, “the Babylonians developed a hand-operat... ... middle of paper ... ...mputer. Crowell-Collier Press. ISBN 0-02-741370-5. 2. Houghton. A Brief Timeline in the History of Computers. Western Carolina University Retrieved January 30th 2014 from Western Carolina University: http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/ch1/computing_tools_timeline.html 3. Melville, Duncan J, Tokens: the origin of mathematics, St Lawrence University IT Retrieved January 19th 2014, from St Lawrence University: http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/tokens.html 4. "Moore's law." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law 5. Nathan A. IT ALL ADDED UP TO MORE THAN COMPUTING. Business Builders In Computers [serial online]. January 2000:6-15. Available from: Book Collection: Nonfiction, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 30, 2014. 6. "The Baggage Engine". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 6 March 2013.

Open Document