What Is Technology?
Desde el fuego y el barro hasta la computadora moderna, la tecnología refleja la evolución del ingenio humano para crear soluciones cada vez más complejas.
Technology is the science and art of creating and using things. Human beings are unique in their ability to transform natural materials into tools, machines, and systems that improve life. While some animals can craft simple objects or use tools, their methods rarely evolve — human technology, by contrast, is dynamic and ever-changing.
People are capable of perceiving new needs, finding new ways to meet them, and recognizing the value of accidental discoveries. The discovery of fire, for example — and its power to harden clay into pottery or melt rocks into metal — made the modern world possible. Over the past century, scientists have come to understand why materials and machines behave as they do. This knowledge has been applied to improve ancient objects, invent new ones, and integrate science and mathematics into countless practical designs.
Design as the Link Between Need and Creation
Design plays a crucial role in identifying what is needed and determining how to achieve it. Today, designers have tools and methods that allow them to bring their ideas to life — much of this process can now be done digitally, thanks to computers.
The Victorian Reading Wheel
The human drive to invent is immense. This 19th-century device attempted to give scholars of the pre-electronic age the same convenience that computers provide today. By rotating the wheel, users could access different texts without changing books. However, like many other ambitious inventions, the “reading wheel” failed because its creator overlooked practical concerns such as cost and usability.
The Chinese Shadoof (Water-Lifting Device)
Humans have always needed water for crops and animals. Ingenious devices were developed thousands of years ago to sustain life in otherwise dry regions. The Chinese shadoof — a counterweighted lever used to draw water from wells — allowed people to fill buckets efficiently and irrigate their fields.
Through such inventions, technology reveals the creative capacity of humanity: the ability to combine knowledge, imagination, and necessity to shape a world continuously adapted to human life.
