Analysis

“How Do New Things Happen” Analysis

In her discussion on “How Do New Things Happen”, Susan J Douglas covers several ways in which humankind has gone about creating technology for themselves; including the cause and effect factors inherent in many advances in technology. However, Douglas only gives some insights about why technology happens, and what starts the spark in the first place. The focus of this analysis is to expound on what are, and have been, the motivating factors behind the development of technology throughout the past and today. Answering this question will give us insight into why technology plays such a large role in people’s lives, and the society as a whole.

One major part of her discussion is the idea of “closure” in technology. Certain technologies are developed, adopted, adapted, and improved to fit current needs, while others die out, become obsolete, and are overrun by other technologies. Douglas explained that certain social groups “might have different technical goals or see different technical problems and wrestle with them until ‘closure’ is achieved. Thus there is no predetermined, natural, or inevitable way for devices or machines to evolve; rather, through this process some technical variants survive and flourish while others disappear.”(Douglas 1)

We could use such primitive examples as the bow and arrow which, in some cultures, eventually evolved into the crossbow. Even the crossbow has many similar features to that of a ballista. In time, bows and ballista were replaced with guns and cannons. So ‘closure’ occurred with these primitive technologies as people incorporated new ideas and improvements into them. Thus the older models were proven to be less effective and useful than they had previously been. Communication technology is one example that Douglas gives of an avenue of technology that has not simply become obsolete over time, but continues to develop and evolve even today.

Considering her example of the bicycle we can see the same actions being taken for different inventions and technological advances. “Bijker and Pinch emphasized the role of struggle, negotiation, rejection, and subsequent new directions as inventors, companies, and everyday users interacted and competed over what final form the bicycle would take.”(Douglas2) Other examples include the radio, television, and the internet.

Douglas delves into the positive and negative effects of this technology on our culture and society, but I would like to further explore why people do what they do when it comes to technology.

To answer this, we can consider man’s early history. Why did Neanderthals begin to use clubs? We can assume that this very early invention was motivated by an instinct of survival. As with so many other inventions, survival was the motivating factor spurring people to action. Here we begin to more clearly answer why, not just how, things happened.

But this only answers the essentials of life; what about other technological inventions, things that we commonly refer to as luxury items, or even things which once were essential to survival, but have been taken to extravagant extremes, which ironically encompasses just about any product available. Comfort, wellbeing and quality of life are the secondary motivating factors behind human actions in the development of technology. On the other hand, a businessman could argue that a cell phone is essential to his survival, let alone prosperity, in the business world. So even today, our instincts of survival are still the motivation behind the mass implementation and constant refinement of many new inventions.

Still, I understand people’s skepticism concerning the sheer mass of “new and improved” items being manufactured every day, and their subsequent high turnover rate. But, aren’t these providers simply following their inborn motivations? So many people equate money with survival in today’s world that it makes sense to them that the more money you have, the more safe and comfortable you are. Otherwise, man would have stopped improving on his inventions when he saw that they worked at least adequately. The time span between improvements and advancements in technology would be much wider. Also, the exploration of the sheer number of different avenues that technology can take would likely have been fewer and far between.

Clearly we have seen the fastest and greatest advances when man has felt himself threatened, either by other humans, or by natural elements of the earth. Mere interest in the chance for improvement brings on only a slow and steady development of technology. Interesting to note that slow and steady in this case usually does not win the race, but rather gets chewed out by the competition.

A unique perspective often allows for new and interesting developments and uses of technology. Douglas again noted that “subcultures, some of them with minimal political, economic, or social power, used technologies in unanticipated, even insurgent ways” (Douglas3). Here we see that even smaller groups of people are eager to, and must be, quick on their feet to find effective ways to use whatever technology that is available to its fullest advantage. Even when this means using it in ways for which the technology was perhaps not originally intended, they will still do it, even if only to curb the risk of being completely left behind technologically.

Sadly, countries with the fewest advances in technology tend to suffer greatly both in social advances and especially politically. This is because technology is often considered to be synonymous with power in today’s world. Many poorer countries do all they can to adopt, copy, or even import if nothing else, the older models of other country’s used technology.

Still other countries intentionally refuse to adopt modern technology. In Douglas’s essay she touched on this. “What about people? Did they have no agency here? …people did resist what seemed like technological progress, sometimes vehemently.” Sometimes not just individual or small groups of people, but entire cultures fall into this category. While their reasons for denying themselves of many modern technologies may vary, their cultures have still survived. On the downside, several of these cultures are dwindling from existence as fewer of their descendants refuse to adopt the natural culture of their progenitors, and instead meld into the mainstream of modern technology.

So, where will our natural motivations lead us in the future? Ray Kurzweil, a scholar noted for his predictions of the future, said that there are six epochs in human development. Kurzweil said that mankind is now in Epoch 4, Technology, in which “Humans evolved into organisms with the ability to create technology. We are right now in the final stages of this epoch.” And that man is nearing Epoch 5, The Merger of Human Technology with Human Intelligence, and that “Biology and technology will begin to merge in order to create higher forms of life and intelligence.”(Kurzweil )

Whatever happens, our instincts have not changed. Through the motivation to improve on what he has and is, mankind will do whatever is necessary in order to continue indefinitely. On the whole, whether for his survival, or simply to improve his comfort and ease, mankind will not be satisfied without something new on the horizon.

Works Cited

Douglas, Susan J. “How Do New Things Happen” SHOT: e-Technology and Culture. © by the Society for the History of Technology, 2010. Web (2011).

Kurzweil, Ray “The Six Epochs of Technology Evolution” Big Think. Rey Kurzweil, 2011. Web (2011)