Abstract
Technological development has been part of human being evolution and development since way back. Attempts to measuring technological development led theorist like Gerhard Lenski, Leslie white, and Alvin Toffler to develop arguments expounding on the discourse of technological development in relation to human evolution. Various aspects have played important roles in the development and progress of technology. As such, the article is going to examine three important aspects namely energy and information which have played important roles in the evolution and progress of technology for ages. Through the lenses of these theorist arguments, we will compare and contrast the perspective on the evolution of the technology development after examining their individual arguments on approaches to measuring technological advancement. From their arguments, the paper will examine the aspects of measuring technological development, which is the fuel propelling the advancement of technological in the current society. Finally, after examining their argument it will conclude by giving the theorist with the most useful insight into the evolution of technology.
Gerhard Lenski Perspective
According to Gerhard Lenski, technological progress and human evolution go tandemly together. He further states that for a human being to progress, information is vital for their civilization (Lenski, 2015). The information we get can be utilized to drive the interest of the society if we know how to exploit and utilize the resources of the world more effectively and efficiently. Information can therefore only be passed through communication, which according to him is categorized into three stages (Lenski, 2015). The first stage of communication is through hereditary which involves passing of information/ genes from one generation to the next. The second stage, sentience, involves our cognitive ability to be aware of our environment, which prompts us to adapt and survive. Furthermore, through necessity, we evolve and invent technology thus sharing our experience that facilitates the passing of the information. The third stage involves reasoning and logical arguments. Through this, we are capable of collecting facts through observations to make a conclusive argument based on their analysis facilitating prediction and future analysis (Lenski, 2015). The last stage involves the hallmark of civilization known to the age of enlightening. In this stage human being are seen to have evolved into higher beings capable of writing, mastering a language, and create a symbol. From Lenski's arguments, information propels technology advancement in the social world and thus can be classified into three stages. The first stage of technological advancement is associated with the hunting and gathering stage of the human evolution (Lenski, 2015). At this stage, human develop simple tools and there main concerning is hunting and gathering plants for their survival. The second stage of technological advancement the agrarian revolution human beings are able to do subsistence farming and store food using simple technology such as the granary. The last level of technological advancement according to this theorist is the industrial revolution associated with complex manufacturing and processing industries human being use for production and
Leslie White Perspective
According to this theorist, most functions of the culture are propelled with an energy. Therefore, much emphasis should be put on the strategies to exploiting the power of energy and its control. The first stage of development is associated with the source of the source of the energy, which is the muscle (White, 1991). The preceding stage evolves and the human being can now convert their energy to domesticate animal for their survival and means of transport. On the next stage, human beings evolve into agrarian revolution, where they now harness and optimize their energy source with the subsistence farming for surplus energy leading to the fourth stage of development. In the fourth stage according to Leslie theory of energy, human being are more enlighten to enhance their energy by using natural resources such oil, gas, and coal (White, 1991). Human being through research and development discovered nuclear energy although destructive. The efficiency in terms of the energy being utilized is determined by the technical capabilities of the instrument that most human beings are utilizing in the technological progress.
Alvin Toffler Perspective
Toffler a journalist argued that human being is drowning in the wave of technological change and advancement. Therefore, they should be resilient to change and be able to adapt easily to the changing environment since it is an era filled with too much uncertainty (Toffler & Shapiro, 2006). More importantly, there is too much overload of information drowning most human beings. The stage of development according to this theorist begun during the Neolithic stage associated with the invention of agriculture (Toffler & Shapiro, 2006). The agrarian revolution then gave way to civilization that led to the second stage, the industrial revolution. The advent of industrial revolution begun in England associated with the invention of steam and turbine engine, and machines. The last stage took place in the last half of the 20th century that saw inventions such as the computer, which opened doors to automation of machines and rapid growth of the service sector.
Comparison and contrast of the perspective
Both Toffler and Lenski evolution perspective of technology regard information to be the key to human development and progress. They argue that information propels development and based on various stages of development according to the argument it plays an important role aiding movement into the next level. Although both view information to be the fueling force to development, Toffler is of a contrary opinion that information overload is overwhelming to most individuals in the society thus a need to find new means to adapt and survive the rapidly changing environment ( Author’s name, 2017). Lenski, on the other hand, view information to be essential to the development and progress of technology. Both the three theorists agree on the evolution of technology begun with the development of simple tools during the early period associated with the agrarian revolution. Although White view evolution of technology to be the harness and control of energy through every stage of human development and sees energy efficiency to be at the core of the currently technological advancement and progress. In my own opinion and from their argument, Lenski offers the most insight into the evolution of technology. Currently, we are leaving in the age of information technology, which is playing a bigger part and role to our society. Supporting my argument with Lenski, information is playing a vital role in the development and progress of technology. Without information, there would be no development and progress in the society. Therefore information is the backbone for the development and progression supported by Toffler which when used aptly by humans can help understand the cause of development rather than being consumed with information in this wave of rapidly changing society over a short period of time.
Reference
Lenski, G. (2015). Ecological-evolutionary theory: Principles and applications. Routledge.
White, L. A. (1991). Energy and the evolution of culture. American Anthropologist, 45(3), 335-356.
Toffler, A., & Shapiro, M. (2006). adaptive corporation. McGraw-Hill.
