Throughout the ages, technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. Technology can be traced back to the Paleolithic age where humanoid creatures used stone tools, well that was technology then. To quite an extent, it can be said that the evolution of humans, the way they work and the means they apply, contributed to technology. Today, technology can be defined as nothing but a competition to make things smaller and smaller. Technology is the technical means people use to improve their surroundings. It is also the knowledge of using tools and machines to do tasks efficiently. We use technology to control the world in which we live. Technology is people using knowledge, tools and systems to make their lives easier and better.

Often the terms technology and science are confused. Technology is said to be “applied science.” This is not true. Science deals with the natural world. Technology is the study of the natural laws that govern the universe. Science tells us that objects will fall to the earth — law of gravity. Science explains why only certain plants are found on the Mojave Desert — plant ecology. Science tells us that steel exposed to oxygen will rust — chemistry. Science tells us that cross-pollinating plants will produce predictable results — biology. Science tells us that oil is most likely found near certain rock formations — geology. On the other hand, technology deals with the human-made world. It is the study of ways people develop and use technical means — tools and machines. It tells us how to control the natural and human-made world. It is the study of the ways people use these technical means to transport, manufacture, construct and communicate.

This is not to say science and technology are unrelated. Science deals with “understanding” while technology deals with “doing.” Science helps us know how to do something efficiently. People use technology to improve their work, communicate better and make better products. Our buildings are better through the use of technology. We travel in more comfort and speed because of it. Yes, technology is everywhere and can make life better.

Michele Strom, a computer science major, said, “We have had an apocalyptic amount of technology advances over the past 100 years, and most of it has been very helpful. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to go back on, say, life-saving medical equipment, or the Internet.”

However, once new technology is created, the question becomes how to control it, so that is not used in harmful ways. Technology would be all good if all the people who created it were morally responsible, and people took time to make safeguards to ensure that no one else misused it. However, that’s not the case. One, it is much easier — and profitable — to immediately release new technology than to wait and think of all the possible ways to misuse that new technology and create reasonable safeguards. Second, the automatic reaction of some scientists when someone suggests that their wonderful new technology might be unethical is to assume that person is “anti-science” or “unenlightened,” rather than morally responsible and conscientious. Basically, once the cat is let out of the bag (or when a group of scientists really, really wants to let the cat out of the bag) we have no good way of going back or controlling the outcome.

Qiqi Wang, a doctoral student in fiber and polymer science said, “It cannot be said confirmatively whether it is a boon or bane because it depends on the person who is using it and on the purpose of its use.”

Through the ages, technology has been used for good as well as bad causes, for example, when similar things are a blessing and at times a curse. Drugs in the form of medicine are a lifesaver but when one becomes addicted, it is a plague. The Internet when used for education is a plethora of learning opportunity, but when browsed for porn, criminal activity is sick. Nuclear products, when used as weapons, are destructive to the core but when used in the form of nuclear medicine such as chemotherapy, is a weapon against diseases like cancer.

Technology is intelligence, a human interface. All we have to understand is that it is up to us on how to make use of it. But in my view technology has proved to be a boon in almost all aspects of our lives.

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