The development of Technology

It is the name of a science and technology studies theory describing technology development, developed by Czech philosopher Radovan Richta. According to Richta and later Bloomfield, technology evolves in three stages: tools, machine, automation. This evolution, he says, follows two trends: the replacement of physical labour with more efficient mental labour, and resulting to a greater extent, the degree of control over a person's natural environment, including an ability to transform raw materials into ever more complex products. The emergence of technology, created the way for the first stage: the tool. A tool provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task, and must be powered by human or animal effort. Hunter-gatherers developed tools mainly for procuring food. Tools such as a container, spear, arrow, plow, or hammer that augments physical labor to more efficiently achieve his objective. The second technological stage was the creation of the machine. A machine is a tool that substitutes the element of human physical effort, and requires the operator only to control its function. Examples of this include cars, trains, computers, and lights. Machines allow humans to tremendously exceed the limitations of their bodies. The third, and final stage of technological evolution is the automation. The automation is a machine that removes the element of human control with an automatic "algorithm". All three of these stages outline the introduction in the fundamentals of technology.