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What is Technology?

• Technology is the practical use of knowledge to meet human needs and wants

• Basic Needs:– Food– Clothing– Shelter– Water– Clean Air

We spent the last 160 yearsdeveloping technology that provides for our WANTS …

You will spend the next 50years assuring that technologyprovides for our NEEDS

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Why should this class matter?• We live in a world that promotes free trade• America is the land of “innovation”• There are 6.5 billion people in the world and

3+ billion don’t have running water or reliable electricity

• Technology-related jobs and those in “hard sciences” are likely to give you job security as long as you don’t take things for granted

• America rewards hard work, but there are 3+ billion people ready to take your jobs

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Who are the US’s major Competitors?

� China – Population 1.3 Billion (the world’s “workshop”)� Manipulating its currency� “Dumping” finished goods at less than the cost to make

� India – Population 1.1 Billion � Now competing for engineering leader� People studying here and going home� A prosperous middle class (300-million people)� Taking our “call center” jobs

� Brazil – Still developing � Major natural resources and is energy independent� A young and vibrant population with an entrepreneurial spirit

� Russia – Still coming out after the end of the Cold War (ended 1989) � Fairly corrupt “oligarchy”� Large amounts of oil and natural gas� Along with China it’s competing for influence in developing nations

Together, these nations form the “BRIC” COUNTRIES

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How “poor” is poor?• A day in the life of your great-grandparents’

(1923-38)• Diet: “Victory Garden (Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3)

– Starches (bread, rice potatoes, oats)– Garden vegetables; fruit from local orchards– Meat:

• Slaughtered at or near home• Chickens, ducks, turkeys kept in yard – eggs collected from hens• Meat caught by hunting• No hormones or “genetic modification”

– Fish picked out of streams or fresh off boat– Whole Milk (Unpasteurized)– Fresh eggs from yard – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_content_of_milk#United_States– Occasional sweets

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How “poor” is poor?• 1930’s Entertainment: radio, books, play 1, 2, 3• School was nothing like today (pic 1, pic 2)• The 1930’s: your “great-grand’s” day, still more• If you had electricity (rural electrification)• And indoor plumbing was not a sure thing• Transportation:

– Model T used as SUV Model T as an SUV– Trolley cars got city dwellers around Trolley cars– And then there was “ol’ reliable” “ol’ reliable”– Of course, you could have been a dandy “dandy”– Exactly how did you get food to market

get food to market?

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What is a “Derived Need?”• A “derived need” is something that in addition to

our basic needs makes lives– Helps us better meet our basic needs– More pleasant– What you have come expect

• Derived needs include:

•Heating /AC Furniture•Transportation Insurance•Communications•Energy Refrigeration•Education•Money•Police/Fire Dept.•Medical Care•Plumbing

Is there anything else you “can’t live” without?

Anything GRANDER is a “WANT!”

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What are 7 TYPES of Technology?

��ConstructionConstruction��ManufacturingManufacturing��Information & CommunicationsInformation & Communications��Energy & PowerEnergy & Power��TransportationTransportation��Medical & BiotechnologyMedical & Biotechnology��Agricultural & EnvironmentalAgricultural & Environmental

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Technologies can be “grouped”• Physical

– Construction (Structures)– Manufacturing– Transportation

• Automobiles• Trains• Pipelines

– Energy Exploration• Biological

– Gene Splicing, Cloning (Seeds, Irrigation, Fertilizers)

– Medicines, Transplants, X-Rays

Information & CommunicationVisual

PrintingMovies

ElectronicsRadio (Sender/Receiver) Music (CD’s)Phones (Sender/Receiver)TV/DVRGame console

Photography

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Technology Concepts• Technologies are “Interdependent”

– Technologies working together to make others better• Cars & Oil & Gasoline• Computers & Electricity & Hi-Speed Internet

• Money “feeds” technology (research)– Money is needed to invest in good ideas

• War drives many new technologies– Good ideas have come from military technologies

• Night Vision Satellites have been used for cell phones• Penicillin Rockets came from war that launched

satellites

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What are the ages of technology?

•• Agricultural AgeAgricultural Age•• Age of ExplorationAge of Exploration•• Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution•• Space AgeSpace Age•• Information SocietyInformation Society•• Biotechnology AgeBiotechnology Age

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What makes a periodan “age” of technology?

• An “age” of technology is a period wheredevelopments in machinery, tools, techniques, andscience combine to make marked differences inpeople’s lives in one particular area.• An “age” of technology has no set start or stop• “Ages” of technology may overlap with others ages:– The “information age” and “biotech ages”– True because technology grows “exponentially”– True because technologies are “interdependent”

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Agricultural Age

• Nomads settled into villages– Nomads village communities

• Subsistence leads to market system– Bartering

– Subsistence farming

• Animal-powered equipment– Animal-powered equipment (wheels)

• Simple iron tools: plows, axes• Artisans & craftsmen craftsman make consumer goods• 100 years ago ~50% of US was agriculture (100 yrs ago)• Today it is ? Why?

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• Late 15th to early 16th century• Shipping lets people travel great distances

– navigation techniques and tools developed Sail power – Simple navigation techniques– Opens new markets:

• Ferdinand Magellen circles globe; Queen Elizabeth funds Columbus;

– European kingdoms take colonies in “New World”

• Age of gunpowder: gunpowder: muskets cannons• Moveable-type printing press developed

– Shared ideas and opened up religion to masses

Age of Exploration

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Industrial RevolutionIndustrial Revolution• Late 1760’s to early-1930’s• Separated “unit of consumption” from that of “production”

– Factory system & mass production replace home production– People moved to cities from farms– Immigration – people moved to US

• Steam:– Drives trains and ships; (work gets easier) train & ships engines– Generation of electricity using steam and water turbines

steam turbines, water turbines (dams)• Electricity:

– Helps communications technology grow– Telegraph, telphone, radio, television, cameras, movies– Telegraph - Telegraph) and telephone (1, 2, 3, 4), radio, television

– Other communications tools follow: cameras, movies (1) • Steel and Concrete are still the most important building materials• Internal Combustion Engine and oil exploration develop cars, planes 1/2/3/4/5• We now live in the “post industrial” age.

– Plastic replaces metal parts in most goods. – Service industries replace much of the manufacturing in developed countries

• Health care improves Anti-biotics and X-Rays improve health care, increase life spans Antibiotics, X-Rays, MRI, CAT Scan

• Inventions from the 1920’s

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�Power & Energy�Nuclear Energy

� Generates electricity• First nuclear submarine (USS Nautilus) • Used instead of oil and coal (still only 20% of electricity)

•Communication• Use of satellites (1957); aids communication (sat)• First computers (1944): ENIAC

– Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer– Transistor invented (switch, “on/off” decisions in “binary”)

– Led to “integrated circuits” or “IC's”

Lasers developed (fiber optic cables cross oceans)

Space Age

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Information Age• Faster processing speeds; larger hard drives• Computer-driven equipment (robotics)• Inexpensive (disposable) electronics used for personal

communications – (the phone is “cheap” … it's the plan that makes the $$$)

• “Planned Obsolescence” is built into goods (we don’t fix cell phones beyond, say, a new battery.

• Less “old technology” manufacturing in developed nations

• Increased use of electronics during leisure time• Satellite communications common

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Biotechnology Age• Use of technology to improve basic needs• Crops genetically modified genetically engineered

– Gives plants the traits we want

• Mapping of human genome (genome video)– identifies people likely to get certain diseases

• Use of technology to lengthen life – Artificial Heart: Jarvik-7; now using centrifugal pumps– Growing artificial organs: ears, bladder– Does it improve quality, though?

• Improved health care by prevention, detection– What was an iron lung? What was POLIO? Who cure it?– Cameras you swallow scan your intestines (1)– Cochlear implants allow the deaf to hear Cochlear Implants

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Exponential growth• Exponential Growth: “An ever-increasing

rate of change.”• The rapid increase in the output of a process

– Area of a circle (if radius doubles, area = 4x)– “Compound interest”– Cell division

• People learn from the last invention

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Technology Grows Exponentially• Since 1900 we have gone from:

– Log cabins to skyscrapers to the space station – Model-T’s to On-Star and self parking– Steam locomotives to “MAGLEV” trains, – Typewriters to wireless internet– Morse code to transatlantic fiberoptic cables – Bi-Planes to 787’s, F-22’s; Mercury Program, to

Apollo, to Space Shuttle, to early space habitationInternational Space Station

– Penicillin & Polio vaccine to organ transplants, laser eye surgery, robotic surgery

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Exponential growth look like ...

1900

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

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What is a system?• A system is an organized way of meeting a goal• Systems can be broken up into sub-systems, part of

the system without which the system won’t work• Systems have the following parts

OutputsWhat we get

InputsWhat goes in

Part of closed -loop system

ProcessWhat we do

FeedbackUsing a measurement from

the system to control the system

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Systems & Subsystems• House

– Kitchen• Storage

– Cold» Refrigerator» Freezer

– Room Temp» Cabinets» Pantry

• Cooking– Stove– Microwave

– Bedroom

• Car• Drive Train

• Engine• Ignition

• Spark plugs• Distributor

• Lubrication

• Transmission

• Electrical• Brakes

• Front & Back• Emergency

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Types of Inputs (for a painting job)

• Manpower: (who is doing?) Painter• Materials: (used up, $) Paint, tape, thinner• Tools/Equipment: (kept up, $$) Brushes, tarps,

rollers• Machinery: (maintained, $$$) Truck, trailer, sprayer• Capital: ($, anything of value; stocks, bonds, land)• Energy: Oil, gasoline, natural gas, solar, electricity• Information: Recipes, instructions, lists• Time: Schedule

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What is a system?• A system is an organized way of meeting a goal• Systems can be broken up into sub-systems, part of

the system without which the system won’t work• Systems have the following parts

OutputsWhat we get

InputsWhat goes in

Part of closed -loop system

ProcessWhat we do

FeedbackUsing a measurement

from the system to control

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Closed-loop vs. Open-loop

In “closed-loop” systems, the system uses some condition of the system (a “parameter”) to control one or more of the system’s inputs

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Feedback: More thoughts on it• Makes a system “closed-loop” (automatic)• Systems use a measurement from the system

(a parameter = condition) to control the system– Speed (car)– Level (toilet)– Pressure (air compressor)– Heat (oven)

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What might a system control?

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Feedback: Follow me ...• If I say “Feedback” … you say:

–“Measure”• If I say “Measure” … you say:

–“Control”• If I say “Control” … you say: “

–“Automatic”• If I say “Automatic” … you say:

–“Closed Loop”

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Thoughts on Systems

• Every system can be “defined”• You will one day “own” a system and be the

“expert”• Most systems can be broken into subsystems• All systems have “essential parts”• No system “operates in a vacuum” (like parts

of a puzzle)

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Technology is a matter of decisions

• (Science) Can we? Does the science/knowledge exist?• (Ethics) Should we? … Is it ethical (right or wrong)?• (The Law) May we? … Is it legally allowed?• (Business) Will we? ... Will the market buy it?

The Law

Science Ethics

Business

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Thoughts on Technology

• Technology has to “sniff out” the money (research)• The market has “whims” about what likes/dislikes• New technology must offer a suitable alternative• War drives technology (sadly) • All technologies are interdependent (they help each

other grow)• Inventions happen if there’s a need or if one is

curious • Great leaps occur when people with different

technology strengths put their minds together

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Technology is good or bad depending on its use or its outcome.

• Nuclear energy is good– No air pollution– Ships don’t need to

refuel for a long time

• Biotechnology is good:– Higher yield crops feed

the world better– We can perform

sophisticated medical operations

Nuclear energy is bad:Nuclear wasteFissionable material for

atomic weapons

Biotechnology is bad:Should we clone human

beings?Germ warfare can kill

millions

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The End

• I hope you enjoyed this presentation.