The Technological Revolution

The technology which surrounds almost everyone in the modern society, affects both work and leisure activities. Technology contains information that many would rather it did not have. It influences minds in good and bad ways, and it allows people to share information which they would otherwise not be able to attain. Even if a person does not own a computer or have credit cards, there is information on a computer somewhere about everyone. The technology which is just now beginning to be manipulated and harnessed is affecting the minds of small children and adolescents in ways that could be harmful. It is affecting our immediate future. It also gives another form of communication and exchange of information which was not available before, information that is both good and bad.

Technology is one of the principal driving forces of the future; it is transforming our lives and shaping our future at rates unprecedented in history, with profound implications which we can't even begin to see or understand.

Many different elements affect how satisfied we are with our lives. The impact of technology on these elements can change how safe, healthy and happy people feel. Throughout history, people have looked for better ways to meet their needs and to satisfy their expectations. Technology has improved the way people feed, clothe and shelter themselves. Technology has also changed other aspects of everyday life, such as health care, education, job satisfaction, and leisure time activities.

People have used technology since they first chipped stone blades to improve their hunting. Yet some people call the current age the "Technological Age" because of society's dependence on technology. For the first time in human history, almost all the goods and services people use depend on technology. The products of technology are available to almost everyone in society. The economy of a country influences how the people of the county live. Technology is often considered the key to a nation's economic growth. Most economists would say that it is one of the factors in economic growth, but they would probably disagree about its importance.

Many economists think that if technology sparks growth in one sector of the economy in the form of increased productivity, growth will also occur in other sectors of the economy. Jobs may be lost in one industry, such as agriculture but new jobs may emerge in other sectors of the economy. There may be more jobs or, in some case, completely new kinds of jobs. Technology may also be used to solve urgent problems. Our growing population is using up infinite supplies of natural resources. Innovations in technology can allow for more efficient use of limited or scarce resources. More products might be made from the same amount of raw material using new techniques.

Technology can increase productivity to help countries compete with other countries in selling goods and services. Some say that without technological improvements, the economy would grow slowly or not at all. Society could remain the same for years, some what like the early Middle Ages in Europe, in which there was little economic change for hundreds of years.

Ways to manufacture goods have changed continuously through history. Today, several important new advances in technology are transforming. These technologies create new products; most of them also change the way people in society interact. These technologies have a tremendous impact on our monetary resources. Some of the technologies which are having the greatest effect on the economy are: robotics, automation and computerization.

Robotics: Artificial Intelligence

Although robotics have a well-established position in the Japanese industry, it has not, so far, turned out to be what many experts thought it would. Businesses in the United States and Europe have not embraced industrial robots at nearly the rate of the Japanese, and other more consumer oriented versions are very much in the development phase. Even so, industry sources believe that the use of robots to make clothes and other consumer goods will be common by the turn of the century.

This general trend (the use of robotics) is likely to change, perhaps dramatically, in the next two decades. Robots are in one sense collections of other more basic technologies: sensors, controlling and analysis software, pattern recognition capabilities and so on. Most all of these other technologies will make significannot

strides in capability, size, power requirements, and other design characteristics and the integration of these other advances should accrue directly to robotics.

Robots are machines which combine computer technology with industrial machines. The computers are programmed to operated the machines. Robots come in many shapes and sizes and can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks.

Robots are gradually being introduced on assembly lines in some industries. In automated factories, the amount produced by each human worker increases tremendously, but robots are very expensive for industries to buy. Only large industries such as the auto industry currently develops, though, the cost of robots is dropping and improvements to robots are making them more flexible so more manufacturers will find them useful.

The use of robotics effects our economy immensely. Robots are much more durable, faster, efficient, ,reliable and cheaper "workers". The use of robots in industries will rise because employers will see the advantages that robots have over human employees. The utilization of robots in the workplace will have a massive effect to the unemployment rate.

Automation: Moving in a New Direction

A small number of decisions we make play a major role in shaping many other areas of our lives. For example, when we decide what (and how) we will consume, a huge system of farms, distributors, stores, manufactures, restaurants etc these respond directly to those desires. One of the most important decisions we make concerns the way we move ourselves and our commodities. Our system of transportation greatly affects how we use energy, develop technology , affect the economy and environment, and shape our social relationships.

When Henry Ford was starting out on his remarkable career in Detroit, a bustling town which