To make you aware of the role that new techonologies play in our lives, imagine a world where people travel on foot only, where phones do not exist; a live without information systems like radio transmitters and receivers, TVs, computers, even without traffic control lights and no rail or air networks etc. We would be back in primitive times. New technologies are of significant importance for our daily life. This blog post will identify some technologies used all over the world and will provide conclusions at the ending of it.
After reading this blog post, readers will be able to:
– Explain the importance of new technology
– Understand the use of those new technologies in our everyday life
– Identify the applicability of the technologies.
Let me give you some examples for the use of new technologies:
- Agricultural technology: Agronomists and veterinarians study scientific facts, chemical formulas and equations to explain phyisical phenomenons. Fundamental science is the key for new agricultural techonologies. American farmers are the number one users of new agricultural technologies in the whole world, it is not the Rwandans or Germans. And this although more than 90% of the Rwandan population lives on agriculture.
- Chemical technology: Chemical industries use laboratory appliances to test products. The applicability of chemical techonology varies. It is used in the production of plastics, cosmetics, biomedical materials, and for recycling, amongst others. These chemical techonologies can, if not well maintanined, pollute the environment.
- Environmental technology: It is used for maintaining our air and water body quality, by protecting them from pollution through e.g. chemical processes as mentioned above.
- Biotechnology: Is a technology of producing biological molecules and is applied in the food industry, pharmaceutical industry, and chemical industry, amongst others. Thanks to this technology, we have a high variety of food and drinks. Biotechnology also produces energy, which is directly consumed domestically.
- Architectural and civil engineering techonology: Civil engineering technology deals with the design and construction of buildings, raods, bridges, wheras architectural technology helps with creating layout plans and multi-dimensional views.
- Nuclear Technology: During World War II, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (Japan). The damage was immense, left several hundreds of thousands of victims behind, as well as destruction on a grand scale caused by the nuclear weapon. Nuclear technology is not only used for destruction, it is also used in nuclear thermal power stations.
- Information and communications techonology (ICT): As I am sure that most of you are already well aware of this technolgy, I will not drop many words about it. This technology fostered the integration of telecommunications, computers, storage and audiovisual, which enables all of us to store, access, transmit, and manipulate information.
- Data Processing techonology: The capabilities of this technolgy are unlimited. There are already super computers with more than 1000 Microprocessors, that are able to develop robotics known by the term of „cybernetics.“
- Robotics Technology: Is about the production of automatic machines that can perform certain tasks with high precision, speed and without getting tired, and therefore is slowly replacing tasks used to do my humans.
- Materials Technology: This technology amplifies a higher level of performance, as well as the use of ceramics, semiconductor and composite materials.
All in all, the world is in perpetual change and its engine is technology. Technical fields vary. As the humans must adapt to changes in their environment and society, the integration of new techonologies must remain their major concern. However, the sophisticated equipments can be useless and might even become dangerous, if people do not understand or integrate new technologies in a thoughtful and careful way.
Alexandre Habumugisha