Engr3: Technology in the Modern World

 How Stuff Works

 How various devices and systems came to be –
the evolution of innovation
 Playing/Experimentation
 Accidental Discoveries
 Improving upon what already exists to satisfy human
needs and wants
 Design based on failure analysis and calculations
 Necessity is not always the mother-of-invention
 The fundamental science that explains why stuff
works
 How people impact technology and how
technology impacts people
Technology is created to satisfy
human needs and wants.
 What is Technology?
 Technology is not only artifacts, such as
computers, iPODs, aircrafts, hybrid cars,
digital cameras, bridges, vaccines, bio-
implants, robots, sunscreen, lasers,
phones, printers, ….
 Technology is also systems like waste
water treatment, roads, fuel production,
the energy grid, and water delivery, …
 Technology is the “know how” needed to
design, maintain, & manufacture
technology.
 Tools were used by human
ancestors 1.6 million years ago

As long as animals have been able to

fashion tools, technology has existed.
 To Create Technology is an
Ancient Human Endeavor
 Children Play with Toys
 Humans and primates create and refine tools
 The act of tool making is much older and more
“natural” than written language (4000 BC)
 Humans evolved
alongside technology

 Homo Sapiens evolved into physically

weak animals because of their mental
ability to make tools and weapons, control
fire, and construct shelter and clothes.
 Opposable Thumb
 The ability to control and manipulate
objects, not just build shelter
Why does creating tools and designing objects
seem difficult to people, when the process is
inherently so human?

Do we think that technology = “high tech” ?

Have we become so specialized in our jobs that

we no longer have to fashion tools, clothes, food
products, furniture, shelter, spears, saddles,
pots, etc. for ourselves?

Therefore jobs outside our expertise area seem

foreign to us.
Examples of Early Engineers

 Farmers
 Settlers
 Potters
 Weavers
 Tailors
 Blacksmiths
 Painters/Artists
 Scribes
 Cooks
Engineering in the 20 Century th

 Defined as masculine
 Institutions offering curriculum in the areas
of technology and engineering
 Large, organized, and hierarchical
enterprises employing many engineers
 Emphasis on the need to understand the
underlying science in order to manipulate
materials
 Where is new technology found?
 Places of high productivity allowing groups of
people to devote their attention to technology
creation
 Good public education with incentives for
studying engineering.
 Adequate energy and infrastructure for
supporting businesses.
 Higher wages and an economic market that
make technology accessible to all.
 Legal, political, and economic systems that
protect intellectual property and promote
innovation.
How does Technology develop?
 Technology evolves.
 Devices and systems start simple and
become increasingly more complex.
 Ideas are borrowed and poached
constantly.
 Some new science is discovered and
people think of useful ways to use this
discovery.
 You can not own or patent an idea.
Sir Isaac Newton once said,
"If I have been able to see farther than
others, it is because I stood on the
shoulders of giants."
 Do you see a similarity?

Wood Lathe Apple Peeler Corer

Learning about the workings of
technology is about acquiring
Technological Literacy
 So Why is
Technological Literacy
Important?

 It gives one an understanding of the world

 Demystifies, Simplifies
 Affects how we think, act, vote, and make
decisions.
 Increases our capabilities and effectiveness
 Teaches us that what we believe to be true
does NOT have to be taken on Faith.
 The goal of Technology Literacy
is to provide people with the
tools to participate intelligently in
the world around them.
Technically Speaking
National Academy of Engineering

The world around us is becoming increasingly more technological.

 Technological Literacy and the
Common Good
"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate
powers of the society but the people
themselves; and if we think them not
enlightened enough to exercise their control
with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is
not to take it from them, but to inform their
discretion by education. This is the true
corrective of abuses of constitutional power.“

Thomas Jefferson, 1820

3rd President
Great Populist
 Technology Literacy and Ensuring
Our Democracy

 "If a nation expects to be ignorant and

free in a state of civilization, it expects
what never was and never will be." TJ
 "Light and liberty go together.“ TJ
If we want to ensure democracy we have to
participate in our government. In order to participate
we have to have knowledge about the issues at hand.
More and more issues have a technological
component of which we must educate ourselves.
 Some Technological Issues that
depend on the public’s opinion:
 Stem Cell Research
 Oil Drilling in Alaska
 Biofuels as substitutes for fossil fuels
 Exposure to non-ionizing radiation
 Regulating CO2 Emissions
 Genetically Modified Foods
 Type of Warfare
 Utility Deregulation
 Local Cell Phone Towers …..
 Technological decision making
is influenced by science,
engineering, politics, ethics,
law, economic markets, energy,
the environment, and people.

We can negatively influence technology with our

ignorance, or we can be an enlightened, informed
citizenry that embraces technologies that we
determine are mostly beneficial.
 Course Goals

 To gain an understanding of the workings of

some everyday technology including assessing
constraints and trade-offs.
 Understand that technology reflects cultural
values and people shape technology.
 To ask questions about new technologies.
 To make informed decisions about technology.
 To experiment with some basic laws of nature.
 To debate the effectiveness of something
 To explain how and why something work
All Technology has trade-offs and
nothing is black and white
(nothing is perfect)
 Yesterdays News:

What are the trade-offs of technologies that allow a

woman to give birth to eight living babies?
 The trade-offs of DDT

DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane - an
effective pesticide was introduced in 1939.
DDT is very effective at killing mosquitoes and
so it was used to control the spread of Malaria
and other insect-borne diseases.
Paul Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Medicine in 1948 for his contribution
towards developing DDT.
DDT being used
In Africa to control
Malaria

1956 Central Valley

farm workers standing
in line to be sprayed
with DDT

DDT being sprayed on Long Island, NY

Beaches in 1945
 Malaria Stats
 Forty-one percent of the world's population live
in areas where malaria is transmitted
 Each year 350–500 million cases of malaria
occur worldwide, and over one million people
die, most of them young children in sub-Saharan
Africa.
 Malaria caused 10.7% of all children's deaths in
developing countries.
 Between 1957 and 2003, in the United States,
63 outbreaks of locally transmitted mosquito-
borne malaria have occurred.
National Geographic
While good at
controlling
mosquitoes,
DDT harmed
wildlife.
DDT has a ½ life
of 15 years, and
so persists for a
long time in the
environment.

Biologist Rachel
Carson published
Silent Spring in
1962 warning us of
the implications of
indiscriminate
spraying of
insecticides without
knowing the effects
on the environment,
particularly birds.
DDT bioaccumulation in
Bald Eagle Pairs - Year/#pairs
the eagle's fatty tissue 1963 - 417 pairs
blocked the female's 1974 - 791 pairs
1984 - 1795 pairs
ability to produce
1994 - 4449 pairs
calcium, causing the 1998 - 5948 pairs
egg shell walls to thin, 2006 - 9789 pairs
Source: USFWS Region 3.
making them vulnerable
during incubation.
In 1972 the EPA banned DDT because of its
"unreasonable adverse effects on man and the
environment."

Studies in the intervening years have

demonstrated that while its acute effects on
humans and primates are mild at worst, DDT
has a very heavy impact on aquatic life and the
avian populations which feed on them.

Wikipedia
 Bald Eagles removed from
Endangered Species List

"Today I am proud to announce: the

eagle has returned," said Secretary
Kempthorne. "In 1963, the lower 48
states were home to barely 400
nesting pairs of bald eagles. Today,
after decades of conservation effort,
they are home to some 10,000 nesting
pairs, a 25-fold increase in the last 40
years. June 28, 2007
Dirk Kempthorne – Secretary
Of the Interior.
 So is that the end to the
DDT story?
 The World Health Organization today
announced a major policy change. It's actively
backing the controversial pesticide DDT as a
way to control malaria.
 A number of major environmental groups
support the limited use of DDT, such as spraying
only inside of houses once or twice a year. That
type of use is supported by the Sierra Club and
Environmental Defense.

NPR: All Things Considered, Sept. 15, 2006

 “GMOs”
Genetically Modified Organism

No GMO’s
 “GMOs”
Genetically Modified Organism

In 1999, US Farmers planted

approximately 70 million acres of
genetically modified crops.

36% of corn is genetically modified

55% of soybean is genetically modified
43% of cotton is genetically modified
With recombinant DNA technology DNA
molecules from different sources are
combined in vitro into one molecule to create
a new gene. This modified DNA is then
transferred into an organism causing the
expression of modified or novel traits.

The term "GMO" does not include organisms

with genetic makeup that has been altered
by conventional cross breeding

Wikipedia
 Why genetically modify food?

Proponents say…
 The organism is altered to produce a protein that
defends the crop against pests, therefore less
chemical pesticide is applied.

 Or the organism is altered to make corn resistant

to herbicides, such as Round Up TM
Monsanto’s “Round-Up Ready” seed

 The organism is altered to produce more

nutritional value, e.g. rice with beta carotene
 What some proponents of GMOs
don’t say…

 A GMO can be patented. Ownership of an

organism means profits.
 A GMO can spread to areas where it is not
wanted, forcing it onto unwilling farmers.
 A genetically altered food may contain
allergens not found in the food’s pure
form, possibly causing allergic reactions.
 What Opponents say…
 Perhaps these GMOs are not safe to
consume.
 Organic food retail sales in the U.S.
was estimated at $7.8 billion in 2000,
a 20% increase over 1999 sales
(source: The U.S. Organic Food
Market, Packaged Facts) , so is there
a need for genetically modified foods?
 Some European nations, Japan, and
Mexico have banned all GMO imports
until proven safe.
 Asia and Latin America require
labeling.
 GMO Considerations
 What would make a GMO unsafe?
 Should an organism be owned?
 How should products containing GMOs be
labeled?
 How are GMOs affecting US exports?
 Who should regulate the use of GMOs?
 Should there be overwhelming benefits
before using a GMO?
Bald Eagles, GMOs, …

Why should you care

about technology?
 Because collectively we
shape technology and
choose when to use it,
but only if we understand it
and care to debate its merits.
OK let’s not care about Technology
Simplify Life…

Why not live without Technology?

 Imagine a Naked City without:
 Buildings, electricity, plumbing, sewers, garbage
service, computers, phones, furniture,
televisions, radios, gas heat…
 Roads, cars, buses, trains, bridges, tunnels,
airports, bicycles, traffic lights...
 Food and Water
 Shoes, clothing, eye glasses, watches, hearing
aids, prosthetic devices, wheelchairs, drugs,
artificial joints, hospitals, doctors, and every
manufactured thing.
 The result…
 No pollution? – but what about human
waste?
 A Different kind of Stress –is this because
people have lost control over their lives?
 Lots of weeds and wildlife (rats, roaches,
and insects included)
 Everything is Organic-like and natural
 Most people would try to live off the land (if
they could find land) or risk dying in the
population centers.
 Think of one technological
innovation (ancient or new) that you
would never want to live without.
 Think of one technological
innovation (ancient or new)
that you would like to learn
the workings of.

I would like to learn how

____________ works.