The Cultural Roots of Technology Essay -- Environment Environmental Po

A technology evolves within a finis and its particular demands and preoccupations, intertwined with that societys particular environment (Teresi, 356). As the kind-hearted race and daily life becomes more advanced, there are time when it becomes necessary to consider the variables that influence our society. These variables-religion, tradition, environment, etc. - open up the subtlety of a society. New technologies are created when the people living in a particular society feel that one of these variables needs to be grow upon or changed (Discovery Channel, Feb. 11). A particularly relevant example is the United States musculus quadriceps femoris program. The space program grew out of the Cold War in the 1960s. The technological needs of this effort, specifically small computers, heat resistant ceramics, radio communication, and strength cells lead to the products and devices that we enjoy today. Societies, with their specific cultural needs, influenced the development of their own technology. For example, the Chinese in ninth century A.D. were fascinated with perfumes, noxious bombs, explosions, gases, and smoke. They burned thurify and fumigated their houses for health as well as spiritual reasons. In the Chinese culture, smoke and loud explosions were connected to the spiritual and supernatural world. Chinese priests invented powder by combining charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur. Their military-centered society saw the advantages gunpowder gave them in involution situations as well. The Chinese were the first to invent land mines, fire lances, and grenades. When Europeans erudite about gunpowder, they began experimenting (Teresi, 355-56). Before long, cannons and guns were invented and warfare would never be the same aga... ... purposes, would the recital of war have changed? It is probable that gunpowder would have eventually been invented, that who would have discovered it and when? What was their culture like wo uld the smoke and fumes make them feel connected to supernatural beings or would gunpowder strictly be used for war? Just like the space program created cultural needs and wants over fifty years ago, culture continues to be the drive force for technological developments.SourcesChant, Colin, Chapter 2 Greece in Pre-industrial Cities and Technology, Routledge Press, 1999, pp. 48-80.Ehrlich, Paul R., Ch.11 Gods, Dive-Bombers, and Bureaucracy in Human Natures Genes Cultures, and the Human Prospect, Island Press, 2000, pp. 253-279.Teresi, Dick, Lost Discoveries The ancient roots of modern science, Simon and Schuster, 2002, ISBN 0-684-83718-8, pp. 325-367.