Free Engineering Technology And Society Report Sample

Engineering technology requires a complete understanding of engineering and the impact of technology on the society as most of the decisions made during the design, construction and manufacture of new technologies has a lasting influence on the society and the individuals. Engineers act as mediators between the technology and the society facilitating the interactions between values and objects that shape technology. The primary responsibility of engineering technology is to fulfill the wider context of social and political norms and regulations. Constructive Technology Assessment originated in the 1970s in the European countries, such as Denmark, Netherlands and many others to evaluate the impact of technology on the society and the environment . Evaluation methods, such as socio-technical experiments, citizen panels and expert analysis emerged to analyze the impact of engineering technology on the society.
Incorporating social and policy goals into new technologies enables dismantling the traditional divide between technological developments and social impacts. The socio-technical nature of engineering technology offers various opportunities to direct technological development in the maximization of positive outcomes and minimization of harm. Analyzing the impact of engineering technology on the society allows for the proliferation of new technologies and delivers significant advances in the standard of living of millions of people . On the other hand, it also creates awareness about the consumption of resources at unsustainable rates, pollution of environment, destruction of the ecosystem and failure to deliver even the basic benefits of development to the world’s poorest people. It is important to understand that engineering technology encompasses social and organizational forms in addition to cognitive techniques, which produce the social infrastructure of human civilization .
In the modern world, science and engineering go together with science supporting engineering and engineering supporting science. While science involves pursuit of knowledge, technology associates with practical concerns. Social values play a crucial role in determining which technology gains widespread acceptance in the society. The wealthier and better-educated people in the society view engineering technology as a favorable scenario. On the other hand, many others consider technology as a threat to their jobs, livelihood, beliefs and traditions of life . The cost-benefit analysis of engineering technology and the society is not only difficult, but also inaccurate because no one is certain about the long-term consequences of engineering technology on the society. In many societies, engineering technology has enabled to develop advanced economies, but simultaneously influenced the values of the society.
Debates raised various questions over the present as well as the future use of technology in the society with disagreements over whether technology improves or worsens the conditions of the society. According to critics, engineering technology harms the environment and alienates the people. The adverse effects of engineering technology on the society are subtle since their side effects often go unnoticed, which involve changes in the behavior of individuals, groups and societies . On the contrary, engineering technology has profound effects on the society. It simplifies the society by creating denser social circles, setting a stage for complex tasks and making the society more informed. Since engineering technology is highly responsive to change, it is important to consider it as a distinct activity in the society and not as an autonomous enterprise that occasionally acknowledges its fragile connections to the society.
Engineering is a dynamic enterprise not only internally, but also in its relations with other aspects of the society . The new attitudes towards engineering technology raise new expectations in terms of thought and behavior of individuals. The social component of engineering technology focuses on issues and subjects that have a direct concern for the society. Interactions between engineering technology and other sectors of the society help to understand the explicit nature of engineering technology in all its forms. It is an instrument of social change and has the potential to shape the society in terms of long range effects of engineering, which are not harmful . The innovations of engineering technology impact the society by driving political, economic and cultural developments. The outlook of engineering technology offers simplistic explanations for complex social phenomena, which in turn creates a political tendency in the society.

References

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