考考学外语的同学

doer

看看，我写的文章怎么样？

看懂的，请翻译下，我还是很担心你们看不下去

或者，看不懂。。。。哎。。。。。。。

                  

Tianshao Ni

6840941

Word Count: 1007

 

Meaning of Technology in a Social and Cultural Perspective

Looking back into the history of human-society’s evolution, we started as hunters and gatherers, moved on to become agriculture based groups; we came across industrial revolution and eventually set place in an electrically driven capitalistic world. Weather it is means of survival or a major improvement in our production economy, technology plays a key role in our race’s success. Today we benefit greatly from the convenience of electric machineries, few come to think about the essence of technology itself. Although cultural beliefs lead to different views on the meaning of technology, it is essentially the solutions employed for human survival and the surpassing of the existing. We lived through the past ages as well as planning on the years to come with the assistance of technology. Humanity transcends itself in forming better societies as technology advances. Despite cultural beliefs, technologies are exercised based on the same rationale. Nevertheless, technologies are useful in numerous occasions, especially when human life depends on it.

       Technologies are means of survival. Nearly 300,000 years ago, human beings as foragers live only to adapt the natural environment. The technology was as simple as a collection of basic tools and skills for survival. In such harsh environment with no other social activities available, human beings’ primary concerns were food and shelter. Eder(Bates, 2005, p.58) points out in the case of Batak in the Philippines, hunters and gatherers quickly employ new technology in their continuation process. Base camps located near water sources were found containing varied types of tools and evidence for the construction of shelter; butchering sites show proof of animal slaughtering and food gathering. (Bates 2005, p.59) Since no other alternative energy sources were accessible, foragers live on a low-energy budget just sufficient enough for survival. (Bates 2005, p.61) Our ancestors utilized the entirety of their acquired technologies on surviving the wild nature, the prosperity of 21^st century human society would be the best evidence to their success. At the same time, modern societies are also in demand for technologies that would carry our race to the next millennium. Recent report shows that the rate we are consuming earth’s natural resources is exceeding 30% of its regenerative ability.(WWF 2008, p.2) Technologies such as The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) (Darwin 2006, p.198) were developed to reduce emission, hence helping our race living into the future. With technologies equipped, human beings are quite capable of surviving any environment. Our intelligence however, continues to uncover methods of improving the quality of our life to the next level.

       Technologies are an intellectual way of us surpass ourselves. Foragers might have a sustainable lifestyle, but their population had always depended on environmental resources. It is technology’s nature to be discovered in response to a need for progressing. With the development of agriculture, many foragers abandoned their old traditions and became pastoralists or horticulturists. (Bates 2005, p.61) Instead of relying on natural resources, horticulturists raise plants with simple tools; pastoralist herd sheep and goats. The amount of food produced was suddenly controllable, which lead to a rapid growth in population. In addition, producing enough food for the entire family requires much less time than before; human beings have more options on how they would spend their time engaging in social activities. (Bates 2005, p.93) With the advances of technology, humanity’s lifestyle was improved considerably. Although human beings maybe satisfied with their current state of society, technology continues to evolve as a product of human intelligence. Following the invention of agriculture, industrial revolution came along and drastically increased our production capability. The very first technical innovation was the cotton gin. Since cotton was a labor-intensive agriculture involving the shipping of African slaves, machineries were invented to replaces the labors. (Hooker 1999) Farming cotton with human slaves is certainly feasible, but technology was innovated to replaces the labor cost. The meaning of technology at this point is not simply a way to solve a problem, but rather a better solution that surpasses our original idea. Being the product of human intelligence in surviving and surpassing, technologies are not always accepted in some cultural beliefs.

       The views on technologies vary in different cultures, but its meaning holds the same. In many culture groups, the practice of certain technology abuses some of their beliefs. Technologies’ violation in traditional values might cause it to be judged differently within the group, but it is employed all the same due to its significant functions of surviving and surpassing. Many Eskimos complain about the use of modern high-powered rifle guns as it destroys the mutual trust between animals and humans, they use it nonetheless since it provides such formidable power and accuracy. (Bates 2005, p.76) In this scenario the rifle was regarded as a destroyer of the bond between human and nature, but the purpose of employing the technology was essential for the survival of their own race. Despite the cultural belief that fortune telling could only be done in person, online virtual fortune telling system were developed for the convenience of obtaining the results in front of a computer without having to meet the fortune teller himself. (Li 2007) Regardless of how cultural beliefs would impact on whether people trust the result or not, the technology was developed purely for the convenience of usage. It is evident that the barrier of cultural restrictions plays no role in defying what technology means.

Humanity have existed long enough appreciating the essence of technology. It is the reason how we manage to survive in difficult conditions; it is the reason for our race’s prosperity; and no cultural beliefs can alter its true meaning. Its functions for surviving and surpassing simply can not be denied or disregarded, as humanity is in need for it.

                                   

 

luke

呵呵,是自己不会拿来请别人翻译不好意思直说吧