Questions
Arthur observes the world is full of technology: information technology receives much attention in the 21st century, but transportation technologies, nanotechnologies, and energy technologies all remain important to the economic, social, and cultural development of human populations. The themes he develops in the book can be applied equally to each of these technologies (and all other technologies) and the themes are focused around three questions:
What is technology?
In answering this question, Arthur seeks to describe the nature or the essence of technology rather than simply providing a dictionary-styled definition.
Where does technology come from?
Arthur seeks to identify the origins of technologies and describe what motivates humans to create technologies.
How does technology evolve?
All technologies change over time, Arthur seeks to describe the factors that contribute to this evolution and the affects of that evolution on other technologies and the applications of technologies.
Missing-ology
There is a rich literature surrounding technology; the popular press, the literature for informed laypeople and the professional literature all contain works that focus on the development of particular technologies, the social effects of those technologies, and the details of managing those technologies. One aspect of technology that is missing from this extensive literature, however, is a literature focusing on the study of technology. This book provides a study of (an –ology) of technology.
Evolution of Technology
Arthur draws similarities between the evolution of life and the evolution of technology. In particular, he notes, both life and technology evolve from existing parts and pieces. Contrasting (but not contradicting this tendency) is the recognition that there is, on occasion, a truly new discovery that revolutionizes further evolution. An example from transportation technology is the transition from internal combustion airplane engines to jet engines.
Combinatorial Evolution
Innovations in technological systems come from both the novel combination of existing technologies and the development of new technologies from newly discovered phenomena.
The Themes of the Book
Arthur prepares readers for the rest of the book by articulating three themes that are developed in the following chapters:
Technologies are developed for a purpose.
According to the old adage, “necessity is the mother of invention,” and Arthur would agree. Unless there is a human need that will be accomplished through the technology, it will not be developed.
Technologies are recursive.
When something is recursive, it has a similar pattern at different levels. In technology, we can see the recursive nature through the example of an airplane. As a whole thing, it is a technology, but it is made of systems (like the electrical system and fuel system) that are themselves technologies, and each of those systems is made of technologies. This pattern can be extended both “up” and “down.”
Technologies are based on the exploitation of natural phenomena.
Every technology operates to because it is based on a natural phenomenon. Jacks to lift cars and machines to excavate holes work because the pumps and cylinders are filled with fluids that are incompressible (or more accurately, fluids that are comprehensible under very predictable ways).