The recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were largely facilitated through relatively newfound technologies-Twitter and Facebook pages both helped spark the protests and continue to add fuel to the unrest, especially given government control over traditional media.
Many have remarked on the importance that technology is playing in the revolution. It is difficult to think that the engineers behind such technology considered the social impacts of their innovations-it may even come as a surprise to the progenitors of such technologies. However, technological progress driving social changes is by no means novel: new inventions have been shaping history for millennia.
It is easy to see how early humans benefited from innovations: learning to hunt and cook meat allowed for greater consumption of protein, providing the support needed for an expanding brain and upright physiology. Later, the advent of agriculture gave rise to sedentary communities, fostering a sense of permanent community for the first time. Surplus food production allowed for specialized professions such as metallurgists, merchants, clerics and soldiers. These newfound societal niches allowed for larger and more complex social structures, eventually giving rise to cities and even states.
The domestication of the horse and development of large, seaworthy vessels meant humans were no longer confined to the place they were born: ideas, languages and war could spread from one tribe or culture to another, fostering interactions for the better, though leading to conflict and even the demise of certain groups. Rome is often remembered for its legions, yet the civil engineering required to build and maintain roads across the empire was crucial to the success of its armies. Similarly, it was aqueducts and other infrastructure improvements that made way for the large cities necessary to unit so many under a single flag, government and tax system.
This millennium saw further leaps in technology. Gutenberg introducing the printing press to Europe indirectly led to the reformation-the masses could now have direct access to the doctrines of their religion, rather than solely through the intermediary of their clergy.
It was not until further inventions, such as the telescope proving the existence of moons of other planets, that science finally started to gain dominion over religion in Europe. In parallel, agricultural advances such as heavier steel ploughs promoted greater food production and therefore larger cities and greater wealth to focus on art, politics and science. While this promoted the renaissance, existing societal norms were finally overturned with the inventions spawning the Industrial Revolution.
Harnessing steam power and other non-physical means of production finally started to release mankind from the burden of physical toil. Physical prowess was no longer the overriding factor in a person’s success and ability to contribute economically. The advent of mechanized and intellectual labour allowed women and other marginalized groups to contribute equally to the workforce. This equality was a major force behind the women’s rights movements of the early 20th century: technology enabling equal participation in the work force meant women could be treated as independent humans, rather than subordinate to the men in their lives.
As is often the case with innovation, conflict, in the form of the world wars, pushed the limits of technology. Though previously considered a novelty, the commercialization and improvement of airplanes in the wars promoted globalization and fostered trade and travel links in times of peace. Similarly, innovations such as the Haber process, driven by a wartime shortage of ammonia in Germany later led to increased agricultural production and the ensuing societal benefits. Plastics, automation and computers have further allowed humans to spend less of their time on menial labour and more on intellectual pursuits. Telecommunications links such as the telephone, fax machine and eventually the internet facilitated global communication, further integrating the global community-bankrupting certain economies and allowing others to flourish.
This exponential growth in technology of the 20th century has fundamentally altered our societies-allowing for decentralization and interdependence on a scale never before thought possible. However, not all innovations necessarily improve society. Increased telecommunications increase the power of the people to communicate with one another, but increased surveillance techniques may allow government to have even greater controls over its people. Automated warfare through the use of drones may eventually reduce the human casualties in war, but are currently acting more as automated death machines, causing further unrest and instability. Internet controls allow governments and corporations to shape, censor and limit our access to information. Smartphones allow us to be more efficient, but can encourage us to lose human interactions and debilitate personal connections. Advances in chemical and nanotechnology can be used for an entire new realm of lethal biowarfare. Clearly the influences of technology on society can be both positive and negative.
It is also clear the influence is not one way. Societal and technological changes influence one another, in intricately intertwined feedback loops. As engineers, and as humans, we have a responsibility to society to ensure our technical innovations are in fact improving the lives of our fellow citizens and generating positive social changes, not further dividing people or limiting the rights of others. Throughout history, technology has an impact on societal change, and as the drivers of technological innovation we must remember that we have great capacity to engineer not only products but society.
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