Technology History - Technologies

Technologies

Unlike the histories of other subjects, technologies do not proceed in a linear manner. Thus, a technology at one time produces a later one, which changes the earlier technology, which produces other technologies, etc. Consider the alphabetized list below. Improvements in primary materials, especially steel, allowed the invention of power systems, such as steam engines and electrical generators, which improved steel metallurgy to lower the cost of steel production. Better and cheaper steel alloys plus commercial petroleum extraction produced cheap and durable transporters (trucks, ships, locomotives, autos) that reduced production and transportation costs of goods and services, thus making them available to more people, which promoted mass production and automation, which promoted improved measurement and standardization, which produced more efficient mass production, which produced cheaper mining, construction and farm machinery, which produced cheaper medicines, homes, home utilities, and clothing. Electrical power systems, i.e., generators and motors, allowed the invention of the telegraph, telephone, and computers, thus speeding communications, which reduced the production costs of machinery to produce better and cheaper lighting, electronic devices, medical equipment, which produced better medical care. Scientific advances in disease etiology coupled with inventions in scientific diagnostic equipment, e.g., X-ray and organ scanning diagnostic machinery (CATSCAN, etc.), plus cheaper chemicals produced by automated chemical manufacture led to improved medicines and medical care for people and farm livestock. Cheaper chemicals also promoted the production of new and better refrigeration and chemicals to control animal and plant pests, which produced better yields, which gave more incentive for research on medicines, pesticides, and so on. These complicated interchanges among technologies and sciences, running in seemingly random directions by successive iterations, resulted in the high living standards that Americans enjoy.