Human Culture and its Effects on Technology

Human Culture and its Effects on Technology

A fluid border exists between the influences of culture and technology on the environment. Culture is generally defined as the predominating modes of thinking and behaving that characterize the workings of a group, while technology is the collection of knowledge available to a society that aids it in crafting tools, practicing arts and skills, and extracting or accumulating materials. In some instances, a people's culture drives its pursuit of more highly advanced technologies, while in other cases the implementation of newfound technology alters and shapes culture. These relationships are clearly visible throughout the course of human history. This paper focuses on the effects of early human culture on the progress of technological advances. Some cultural developments with significant impacts on human technology that are especially of note are religion, warfare, and the value system of wealth.

George Basalla writes that "necessity spurs on inventive effort" (6). Humans develop technology to meet their perceived needs, though need is a relative term. Technology may serve entirely different purposes within various groups of people, which indicates that it obtains its importance within a specific cultural framework (Basalla 12). Some cultures developed religion and brought it into their lives, which in turn yielded new technological innovation. Great intellectual leaps are also considered technology, and religion encouraged one of the most important: a system of writing. Writing is believed to have developed alongside religious practices, due to the necessity of timing rituals. This need brought the calendar into the world, as well as a new system of communication (Ehrlich 224). Writ...

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...an culture has proven itself to be highly influential in the progress of technology. From key aspects of early culture, including religion, war, and concepts of wealth, have stemmed great technological achievements that have forever altered the culture of today.

Works Cited:

Basalla, George. The Evolution of Technology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Chant, Colin. Pre-Industrial Cities and Technology. Routledge Press, 1999.

Ehrlich, Paul. Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect. Island Press, 2000.

Hirth, Kenneth. "Militarism and Social Organization at Xochicalco, Morelos." The Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica: A Reader, ed. Smith and Masso. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2000.

Ponting, Clive. A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.