Technology

The general term for the means of labor, methods of arts and crafts and systems of skills created by man in the practical activity of reshaping, controlling and coordinating various elements by applying scientific knowledge. The word technology originated from the combination of the Greek words tékhnē (“art”, “dexterity”) and logos (“word”, “speech”), and means perfect technique and oration. Technology is the labor skills, dexterity, experience and knowledge developed in the course of human history, and it is a mode and method by which mankind rationally changes nature and skillfully exploits its laws. Technology in the modern sense refers chiefly to technology based on scientific theory.

Technology has the dual attribute of nature and society. The natural attribute of technology manifests itself in that any technology must conform to the laws of science; and its social attribute manifests itself in that the emergence, development and application of a technology are subject to socio-historical conditions. The technological formation includes three interconnected aspects, i.e., operational formation, physical formation and knowledge formation of technology. Operational formation is the technology of the subject. Skills, crafts, intelligence, experience, methods, procedures, etc. are mastered by a specific subject who performs the technical operation, and they act in the whole process of the technical operation. Physical formation is the objective technological beings, such as tools, machines, production lines, etc. They are the material means and objective conditions for the realization of technological activity, and, together with human labor, constitute the real elements of productive forces, and are the most intuitive and most vivid embodiment of the level of technological development. Knowledge formation is the basic component part of modern technology and an important hallmark that distinguishes it from earlier experimental technology.

Technology is an important factor that constitutes the productive forces of society. Technology is closer to the formation of the productive forces than science. Technology essentially embodies the practical relation of man to nature, and is an immediate productive force. The development of science and technology inevitably effects a revolution in the mode of production, thus will effect a revolution in the relations of production. The hand-mill gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill society with the industrial capitalist.

Science and technology are closely connected, promote each other and transform into each other. Engels pointed out that if “technique largely depends on the state of science, science depends far more still on the state and the requirements of technique. If society has a technical need, that helps science forward more than ten universities.” With the rapid development of modern science, the process of development “from science to technology” has been formed. Science is an indispensable theoretical foundation in the expansion of the modern system of science and technology.

The main difference between science and technology is that science is a theoretical system of knowledge and that technology is a practical system of knowledge. The task of science lies in knowing nature, revealing the essence and laws of things, taking seeking truth as its goal, appearing in the theoretical formation. Technology focuses on reshaping nature, is a means and a method for creating material wealth, takes seeking utility as its goal and is displayed in operational procedures or technological objects. Science takes discovery as its core, while technology takes invention as its core. The laws of scientific discovery do not depend on the consciousness of men but exist independently. Before men discover them, they play their role in themselves. Once scientific laws and technological means are known and mastered by men, men can consciously apply them to know nature and change the world.