And Then, There's Technology

The English word technology comes from the Greek “technologia.’ It is a term that can be applied to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines or utensils, but it can also encompass the broader definition of organizational systems. It describes any human innovation that involves the generation of knowledge and to solve problems, particularly those problems that modify the natural environment in order to satisfy perceived human needs and wants.

When the average person think about technology, they often think of the most highly sophisticated tools. Machines of all sorts, and of course, computers are generally the first things that come to mind. But in the simplest form of the definition, “technology” would also include the simple tools, thing like levers, pulleys, hammers, and weapons too. Things like spears and even rocks, when used to satisfy a need or get what one wants, are forms of man’s “technology.”

School children are often taught that technology has gone through dramatic changes as mankind developed through the ages. Perhaps you remember learning that the Stone Age came first and then the Bronze Age and then the Iron Age? I do. But it has since come to my attention that this information is totally inaccurate. This is not the way it really happened. Not only that, the scientists and experts who write this stuff for our digestion, know it is not true. yet they teach it.

I wonder, "Why?" (You may be wondering that too.)

I think it's because once the pupil, usually a child, understands the concept of technological advancement through human history over the span of time like this, they will "better understand" another prominent teaching, this one about the origin of mankind. Understanding man's technological advancement, is counterpart to the idea that man gradually evolved over long periods of time from lower life forms in order to become who and what he is today. Both concepts are best understood on a time line.

Imagine a time line that starts back at the beginning of time and moves forward to today. At the beginning, would be the first of these “technological ages,” the Stone Age, which occurred sometime after man was no longer whatever he was before he evolved into ‘man,” (and woman.) Apparently man came down out of the trees and began working with stone and wood... and this without metals, for that age had not occurred yet.

Next on the timeline would be the Bronze Age. (During the Bronze Age tools and weapons began to appear in use and they were made of bronze. Then comes the Iron Age, which is the time when man not only discovered but also began to work with… (take a guess,) … you probably guessed it: iron.

Over the next few spans of time on the timeline, mankind enters into the Industrial Revolution, (with the invention of the cotton gin, and then the glorious Technological Age of the 20th century, followed by the Information or Computer/Space Age which we are in now.

Once you have clearly seen this progression, and how things have gotten better and better over time, and understood how man has been becoming more advanced and smarter, as he is working with more and more complex substances through the passage of time, you will better understand the basic principle of evolution.

It's simplistic, easy to understand, but it is not complete. In fact new discoveries have been made and this “three age system,” (Stone, Bronze, Iron) originally developed by Danish archaeologist Christian Thomsen, has had to be modified by giving subdivisions to the ages. For example the Stone age has been come two parts, The Old Stone (now called Paleolithic,) and New Stone (Neolithic) age. Most importantly, it's notable that within these “ages,” “technological developments” have appeared in different societies at vastly differing times, some with no relation at all to Thomsen's "ages.” Therefore, they are not accurate.

An example of this inaccuracy, would be the Maya people of South America. They were essentially still living in the Paleolithic “(old) Stone Age” when the exploring Spanish conquistadors of the 1400’s discovered them. Learned explorers of the day may have assumed these people were not very bright, they may have appeared technologically challenged, but those assumptions would be wrong as it is widely recognized that these same people had an incredible knowledge of mathematics. In fact, much of the Mayan culture, like the Egyptian past, remains an enigma to the “wise” scientists of today who cannot fit them into the three-age schema they were taught.


Another example not fitting into this technological age model presented in most textbooks would be the Japanese culture. The Japanese people mastered that art of fine pottery and glass long before they were developed in farming. This being the case, they too do not fit into Thompsen’s three system model of technological development either.

Anything that man has created that increases his ability to get what he needs or wants, by definition, is technology. It can refer to something like a hoe, that makes the world of tilling the soil a little easier or to weapons, like swords and spears. Since the beginning of time, men have used various forms of technology to get what they want, to gain dominance over other men.

No mater the weapon, be it rocks and stones, bows and arrows, or cannons that shoot balls of iron over land and sea, technology will be used by the most aggressive in order to secure for themselves the things they want. After all, he who creates the greatest tool, (be it rock or bomb, nuclear, chemical or biological warfare of the Atomic or Technological Age) rules and shapes the world.

Technology is power.

Technology, you might say, began long ago somewhere near the beginning of time, when a man, looked at a rock, considered it a weapon and used it to dominate another human being. Take Cain for example, of Cain and Able. Cain used technology ( a rock) to get what he wanted. He wanted to get rid of his brother and it worked. He killed him. He didn't use his bare hands. He used technology.


Mankind today, may seem much more “technologically sophisticated,” than Cain was We now have better more efficient ways of ensuring that we get what we want. There are swords, catapults, grenades. semi-automatic machine guns, and even laboratories that build nuclear bombs and biological weapons. Like Cain, people today can easily succumb to thinking that technology is the solution to anything that ails us, but like Cain we need to learn that the solution to our problems isn't technology, it's obeying God.

Technology has solved a lot of, what we humans consider to be, problems. It helps us do a lot of thing, but it's not the answer to everything in the world. Jesus is. After all, Jesus conquered death when he rose from the grave. Death and destruction are some of the heavier weighted problems humanity and all of creation faces... and yet the hand of God renews things day by day. Meanwhile we try to solve problems, particularly those problems that modify the natural environment in order to satisfy perceived human needs and wants with technology.