Technology is machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. It is a complex, painstaking process to transform scientific research into usable ideas and products. This development process often includes a series of ‘death valleys’ in which apparently promising early technologies stall. Moreover, it is rare that any one technology succeeds in its entirety and has the full impact desired by its creators.
In a practical sense, technology involves bringing the world closer to how people wish it to be. The process is not merely a matter of calculating the efficiency of different possible means to an end that has already been determined; it also requires deliberating about what that end should actually be. Thus, the nature of technology is not something to be reduced to a simple instrumentalist definition of ‘a designed, material means to an end’ (see Tool; hand tool).
The word ‘technology’ has filled in a semantic void left by the narrowing of the meanings of’science’ and ‘arts’. As a result, it has come to be associated with an industrialist, means-to-ends rationality, and to supplant the concepts of the social and cultural components that science, art, and philosophy have traditionally embraced.
As a consequence, it is easy to overlook the fact that many technologies have significant social and ethical implications. The key question is who is responsible for predicting, measuring, and mitigating those impacts throughout the design process. This is a complicated question for policymakers, as it requires the involvement of individuals with diverse experiences and expertise. This is why it is critical that we develop mechanisms through which the decision-making about technology is made with a deeper understanding of its impacts.