Stages of Technological Advancement

Technology is a collection of human activities and the ways by which these activities are developed or improved upon. Technology is also a term that applies to the methodology by which new technological systems are developed or upgraded. It is a part of human activity that has developed through the process of evolution. Technology includes the application of machines to perform tasks that formerly had to be performed by people.

In order for society to use technology for its practical ends, it must be both useful and necessary. To be useful, the technology must enhance the quality of human life, while also meeting the social needs of the people using it. For this reason, the creation of new technological systems, like the electric railway, the telephone, or television, is not undertaken for its own sake but for its practical aims to improve living standards. And it is only after developing these practical aims that a society begins to think of the technology as having social goals of its own.

Technological progress is not a progressive movement, but rather one unfolds in stages. It is up to the people in society to watch these progresses and to react when required. This will help to maintain the level of technological developments needed for the human condition to continue to progress. This is why controlling the technological systems and ensuring their gradual adaptation to the needs and desires of people is a key component of the development of the society and the human condition. The different technological developments that took place over the last 20th century can be viewed as having taken place in four separate stages.