INTRODUCTION
History of
technology focuses the development over time of systematic techniques for making and doing
things. The term technology,
a combination of the Greek technē, means “art, craft,” with logos,
means “word, speech,” meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, both fine and
applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to
mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts”
themselves came to be the object of the designation. By the early 20th century,
the term embraced a growing range of means, processes, and ideas in addition to
tools and machines. By mid-century, technology was defined by such phrases as the
means or activity by which man seeks to change or manipulate his environment,(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/history-of-technology)
DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
Technology is
the making, modification, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems, and methods of
organization, in order to solve a problem, improve a pre-existing solution to a
problem, achieve a goal, handle an applied input/output relation or perform a
specific function, (Luhman,1989).
Technology is information about how to use the
material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires,
(Schaefer, 2006).
Backward technologyrefers to unsophisticated technology
often that used for centuries, that is limited to the production of basic
necessities, World English dictionary (2009).
Backward Technology refers to the technology that having
less progress than normal. It is that technology which is developing slowly
(Oxford Dictionary, 2010).
STAGES OF BACKWARD TECHNOLOGY
Backward technology
is the Technology that has gradual changes; takes long period of time to give
outcomes.Backward Technology can be explained into different stages as follows;Old
stone age, Middle Stone Age andIron Age.
Old Stone Age(Paleolithic
Age),is a prehistoric period
of human history
distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered, and
covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory
around 2.6 million years ago, all humans
were hunter-gatherers like gathering plants and fishing, hunting or scavenging
wild animals. They typically lived in small bands that followed an annual
migration pattern, timing their movements according to maturing plants and
travelling mobs of game. Depending on food availability, these bands might be
nomadic or semi-nomadic. Technologically, these societies were characterized by
low technology where the use of stones in daily life was unavoidable.
Middle Stone Age,
(Mesolithic Age), This was the period during which
early humans began to control fire and develop language (11,000-6,000 B.C).This
age was basically the combination of two societies which was pastoral and
horticultural societies existing almost at the same time according to the
immediate environment.These societies, not only used stones but also bones,
Bows and arrows, Fish hooks, Harpoons.In Horticulture society’s technology
based on using hand tools to cultivate plants for instance hand hoes and axes.
During
this era farming communities began to be established, humans hunted and fished
and began to learn how to domesticate animals and plants. The late Mesolithic
hunters were known to have developed pottery (ceramic objects) and a sedentary
life style.Also during that period people started living in huts instead of
caves.
New Stone Age (Neolithic Age),the
Iron Age began in 1000 BC once smelting pit designs had advanced sufficiently
to produce higher temperatures needed to smelt iron ore.The transition to the Iron
Age was critical not because of any property of the metal itself but rather
because iron is overwhelmingly more abundant than copper and tin. This enabled
for the first time in history, true mass-production of metal tools and weapons.
Both
agriculture and conflict were thereby revolutionized since metal implements are
far more effective than stone in both endeavors.Innovations continued through
the middle Ages with innovations such as silk, the horse collar and horseshoes
in the first few hundred years after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Medieval
technology saw the use of simple machines such as the lever, the screw, and the
pulley; being combined to form more complicated tools such as wheelbarrow,
windmills and clocks. The Recovery brought out many of these innovations,
including the printing press which facilitates the greater communication of
knowledge and technology become increasingly associated with science, beginning
a cycle of mutual advancement.The advancement in technology in this era allowed
a more steady supply of food, followed by the wider availability of consumer
goods.
The impact of backward technology
Negative impacts
Technology becomes more complex, a
gap opens between the “haves” and the “have not” in the society
Hardship in finding food as well as
food security, taking an example which have been simplified
on hunting and gathering societies, in which relatively small nomadic groups
are constantly on the move in search of food.
Time consuming due to the
technological backwardness, the use of crude technology led to
the wastage of time in just a simple work.
Death also
became among the impact of backward technology due to its failure to
accommodate the health of individuals, thus, high death rate against high birth
rate.
Positive impacts
The backward technology was the
stimulant of the sophisticated technology,the emergency of
backward technology stimulated to the availability of sophisticated technology
which comprises modern machines such as heavy industries resulted from the
discovery of iron in the late or new stone age.
Permanent settlement were emerged,
also during the middle stone age it happened that people started to live in
a permanent settlements that is huts
instead of caves as they had discovered fire.
CONLUSION
Generally,
backward technology is still valuable in todays societies because of its
application, the presence of backward technology gave the way or chance to pass other ways of
living such as industrial revolution and postindustrial, although people now
days are living on advanced technology compared to the time of backward
technology so that they develop faster than previous time as the influence of
new or modern machines such as heavy industries, tractors in agriculture and
others which give out high production of goods.
REFERENCES
Hornby
A.S, (2010), “Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of current English” 8th Edition,
Oxford
university press.
Luhman,
(1989) “The impact of backward technology”
Schaefer,
R.T. (2008),“Sociology A brief
introduction”, 7th Edition. McGraw Hill Companies.
Retrieved on 3rd of 2014 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1350805/history-of-
technology
Written By AUSI CHIWAMBO (2014)-Teofilo Kisanji University
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