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104-424: The subculture stresses a cut-and-paste approach to standardized hobbyist technologies , and encourages cookbook re-use of designs published on websites and maker-oriented publications. There is a strong focus on using and learning practical skills and applying them to reference designs. There is also growing work on equity and the maker culture . Maker culture emphasizes learning-through-doing ( active learning ) in

208-517: A dropper , funnel , and aluminum foil or wrapping paper . The concept of homemade and experimental instruments in music has its roots prior to the maker movement, from complicated experiments with figures such as Reed Ghazala and Michel Waisvisz pioneering early circuit bending techniques to simple projects such as the Cigar Box Guitar . Bart Hopkin published the magazine Experimental Musical Instruments for 15 years followed by

312-482: A mixer which helped them to hide their cryptocurrency exchanges, to launder over $ 20.5 million in cryptocurrency, from Axie Infinity , and steal over $ 600 million worth of cryptocurrency from the game's owner. Because of this, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Blender.io, which marked the first time it has taken action against a mixer, to try to crack down on North Korean hackers. The privacy of cryptocurrency has been debated. Although many customers like

416-486: A "component car", is an automobile that is available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer himself then assembles into a functioning car. Car tuning can include electric vehicle conversion . Motorcycle making and conversions are also represented. As examples: Tinker Bike is an open source motorcycle kit adaptable to recycled components; NightShift Bikes is a small, Makerist project in custom, DIY electric motorcycle conversions. Bicycles , too, have

520-556: A DIY, Maker-style community. Zenga Bros ' Tall Bikes are one example. Community bike workshops are a specific type of makerspaces . MAKE (a magazine published since 2004 by O'Reilly Media ), is considered a "central organ of the Maker Movement," and its founder, Dale Dougherty , is widely considered the founder of the Movement. Other media outlets associated with the movement include Wamungo , Hackaday , Makery , and

624-476: A broad range of skills rather than on a specific vocational training . In 1980, the name of industrial arts education in New York State was changed to " technology education " during what was called the "Futuring Project". The project goal was to increase students' technological literacy . In Victoria , Australia, industrial arts is still a key part of the high school curriculum. The term now describes

728-491: A full-fledged industry based on the growing number of DIYers who want to build something rather than buy it. Spurred primarily by the advent of RepRap 3D printing for the fabrication of prototypes , declining cost and broad adoption have opened up new realms of innovation . As it has become cost-effective to make just one item for prototyping (or a small number of household items), this approach can be depicted as personal fabrication for "a market of one person". The rise of

832-407: A key study of technology that focuses on both engineering and industrial technologies. Additionally, design using the aforementioned technologies is now a key part of the industrial arts curriculum and has been since the mid-1980s. One of the most important aspects of industrial arts is that students design and create solutions; learning the challenges involved with working with materials and also

936-428: A larger Technology faculty, however, many schools still have a stand-alone Industrial Arts faculty. The primary role of Industrial Arts education is to expose students to a variety of industrial and engineering technologies that improve their understanding of the industrial and engineered world. Moreover, students learn both project management and design principles, most courses are project-based with students realizing

1040-424: A negative response to disposables , globalised mass production , the power of chain stores , multinationals and consumerism . In reaction to the rise of maker culture, Barack Obama pledged to open several national research and development facilities to the public. In addition the U.S. federal government renamed one of their national centers "America Makes". The methods of digital fabrication —previously

1144-410: A rise in extremism, while others see it as an opportunity to usher in a post-scarcity economy . Some segments of the 1960s hippie counterculture grew to dislike urban living and developed a preference for locally autonomous , sustainable , and decentralized technology, termed appropriate technology . This later influenced hacker culture and technopaganism . Technological utopianism refers to

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1248-411: A rise in social media's cultural prominence, with potential repercussions on democracy, and economic and social life. Early on, the internet was seen as a "liberation technology" that would democratize knowledge, improve access to education, and promote democracy. Modern research has turned to investigate the internet's downsides, including disinformation, polarization, hate speech, and propaganda. Since

1352-517: A role. The invention of writing led to the spread of cultural knowledge and became the basis for history, libraries , schools, and scientific research. Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided, for the first time, the ability to smelt and forge gold, copper, silver, and lead – native metals found in relatively pure form in nature. The advantages of copper tools over stone, bone and wooden tools were quickly apparent to early humans, and native copper

1456-468: A series of books about instrument building. Organizations such as Zvex , WORM , STEIM , Death by Audio , and Casper Electronics cater to the do-it-yourself audience, while musicians like Nicolas Collins and Yuri Landman create and perform with custom made and experimental instruments. While still living at home Hugh Le Caine began a lifelong interest in electronic music and sound generation. In 1937, he designed an electronic free reed organ, and in

1560-508: A social environment. Maker culture emphasizes informal, networked, peer-led, and shared learning motivated by fun and self-fulfillment. Maker culture encourages novel applications of technologies, and the exploration of intersections between traditionally separate domains and ways of working including metalworking, calligraphy, filmmaking, and computer programming. Community interaction and knowledge sharing are often mediated through networked technologies, with websites and social media tools forming

1664-561: A solution to a design or engineering challenge. Two key components of the projects are synthesis of a solution and evaluation of the final product. Both of these components are the highest order objectives in Bloom's Taxonomy . Industrial Arts have a single compulsory course for Years 7 and 8: Technology (Mandatory). This course also has areas that cover Home Economics concepts and Information Communication Technologies (ICT) content. For Years 9 and 10 all Industrial Arts courses are electives,

1768-521: A source of ideas. Futures research methodologies include survey research , modeling, statistical analysis , and computer simulations . Existential risk researchers analyze risks that could lead to human extinction or civilizational collapse, and look for ways to build resilience against them. Relevant research centers include the Cambridge Center for the Study of Existential Risk , and

1872-466: Is always beneficial, that scientific openness is always preferable, or that they can afford to wait until a dangerous technology has been invented before they prepare mitigations. Emerging technologies are novel technologies whose development or practical applications are still largely unrealized. They include nanotechnology , biotechnology , robotics , 3D printing , blockchains , and artificial intelligence . In 2005, futurist Ray Kurzweil claimed

1976-499: Is an interdisciplinary subfield of ethics that analyzes technology's ethical implications and explores ways to mitigate the potential negative impacts of new technologies. There is a broad range of ethical issues revolving around technology, from specific areas of focus affecting professionals working with technology to broader social, ethical, and legal issues concerning the role of technology in society and everyday life. Prominent debates have surrounded genetically modified organisms ,

2080-740: Is creating both new opportunities and new obligations for us, opportunity for greater productivity and progress; obligation to be sure that no workingman, no family must pay an unjust price for progress." upon signing the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress bill. With the growing reliance of technology, there have been security and privacy concerns along with it. Billions of people use different online payment methods, such as WeChat Pay , PayPal , Alipay , and much more to help transfer money. Although security measures are placed, some criminals are able to bypass them. In March 2022, North Korea used Blender.io ,

2184-611: Is founded upon the "continued evolution of human life beyond its current human form" through science and technology, informed by "life-promoting principles and values." The movement gained wider popularity in the early 21st century. Industrial arts Industrial arts is an educational program that features the fabrication of objects in wood or metal using a variety of hand, power, or machine tools. Industrial Arts are commonly referred to as Technology Education . It may include small engine repair and automobile maintenance , and all programs usually cover technical drawing as part of

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2288-406: Is that maker culture is unnecessarily fascinated with technology, and that projects are improved when they work to critically consider social concerns - borrowing from the more established disciplines of industrial design and media art practice. Others criticize the maker movement as not even being a movement, and posit that fundamental hypocrisy extends to limit the scope and impact of every aspect of

2392-535: Is the Institute of Industrial Arts Technology Education ( IIATE ). This organization releases a quarterly journal (on CD) and also runs an annual conference that investigates matters relevant to Industrial Arts education. Moreover, the IIATE represents Industrial Arts teachers in a variety of situations such as syllabus development meetings and teacher training interviews. Another important role that The IIATE fulfills

2496-555: Is the sailing ship ; the earliest record of a ship under sail is that of a Nile boat dating to around 7,000 BCE. From prehistoric times, Egyptians likely used the power of the annual flooding of the Nile to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and "catch" basins. The ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia used a complex system of canals and levees to divert water from

2600-513: Is the stone tool , used during prehistory , followed by the control of fire —which in turn contributed to the growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Ice Age , according to the cooking hypothesis . The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including

2704-481: Is the largest cause of long-term economic growth. Throughout human history, energy production was the main constraint on economic development , and new technologies allowed humans to significantly increase the amount of available energy . First came fire, which made edible a wider variety of foods, and made it less physically demanding to digest them. Fire also enabled smelting , and the use of tin , copper, and iron tools, used for hunting or tradesmanship . Then came

2808-487: The Ancient Greek word tékhnē , used to mean 'knowledge of how to make things', which encompassed activities like architecture. Starting in the 19th century, continental Europeans started using the terms Technik (German) or technique (French) to refer to a 'way of doing', which included all technical arts, such as dancing, navigation, or printing, whether or not they required tools or instruments. At

2912-1043: The Arduino , Raspberry Pi , BeagleBone Black , and Intel's Galileo and Edison , many of which are open source, are easy to program and connect to devices such as sensors, displays, and actuators. This lowers the barrier to entry for hardware development. Combined with the cloud, this technology enables the Internet of Things . Desktop 3D printing is now possible in various plastics and metals. In combination with DIY open-source microelectronics, they can create autoreplicant 3d printers, such as RepRap . Digital fabrication also includes various subtractive fabrication tech, eg. laser cutting , CNC milling , and knitting machines . To create one's own designs for digital fabrication requires digital design tools, like Solidworks , Autodesk , and Rhinoceros 3D . More recently, less expensive or easier to use software has emerged. Free, open-source software such as FreeCAD can be extremely useful in

3016-547: The Clavivox . John Simonton founded PAiA Electronics in Oklahoma City in 1967 and began offering various small electronics kits through mail order . Starting in 1972 PAiA began producing analog synthesizer kits, in both modular and all-in-one form. Makers can also make or fabricate their own tools. This includes knives , hand tools , lathes , 3-D printers , wood working tools, etc. A kit car , also known as

3120-545: The Information Age and the birth of the Internet . The Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, and later the launch of crewed missions to the moon in the 1960s. Organized efforts to search for extraterrestrial intelligence have used radio telescopes to detect signs of technology use, or technosignatures , given off by alien civilizations. In medicine, new technologies were developed for diagnosis ( CT , PET , and MRI scanning), treatment (like

3224-558: The Minoans on the Greek island of Crete built a 50 km road leading from the palace of Gortyn on the south side of the island, through the mountains, to the palace of Knossos on the north side of the island. Unlike the earlier road, the Minoan road was completely paved. Ancient Minoan private homes had running water . A bathtub virtually identical to modern ones was unearthed at

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3328-618: The Tigris and Euphrates rivers for irrigation. Archaeologists estimate that the wheel was invented independently and concurrently in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq ), the Northern Caucasus ( Maykop culture ), and Central Europe. Time estimates range from 5,500 to 3,000 BCE with most experts putting it closer to 4,000 BCE. The oldest artifacts with drawings depicting wheeled carts date from about 3,500 BCE. More recently,

3432-611: The World Economic Forum 's "The Future of Jobs Report 2020", AI is predicted to replace 85 million jobs worldwide, and create 97 million new jobs by 2025. From 1990 to 2007, a study in the U.S. by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu showed that an addition of one robot for every 1,000 workers decreased the employment-to-population ratio by 0.2%, or about 3.3 workers, and lowered wages by 0.42%. Concerns about technology replacing human labor however are long-lasting. As US president Lyndon Johnson said in 1964, "Technology

3536-864: The dialysis machine , defibrillator , pacemaker , and a wide array of new pharmaceutical drugs ), and research (like interferon cloning and DNA microarrays ). Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to make and maintain more modern technologies, and entire industries have arisen to develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools. Modern technology increasingly relies on training and education – their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require sophisticated general and specific training. Moreover, these technologies have become so complex that entire fields have developed to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science ; and other fields have become more complex, such as construction, transportation, and architecture. Technological change

3640-402: The lever , the screw , and the pulley ) were combined into more complicated tools, such as the wheelbarrow , windmills , and clocks . A system of universities developed and spread scientific ideas and practices, including Oxford and Cambridge . The Renaissance era produced many innovations, including the introduction of the movable type printing press to Europe, which facilitated

3744-445: The printing press , telephone, and the Internet , have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge economy . While technology contributes to economic development and improves human prosperity , it can also have negative impacts like pollution and resource depletion , and can cause social harms like technological unemployment resulting from automation . As a result, philosophical and political debates about

3848-399: The smelting of ores, along with the use of a wind-drafted clay kiln , which released lead into the atmosphere and the sediment of rivers. Philosophy of technology is a branch of philosophy that studies the "practice of designing and creating artifacts", and the "nature of the things so created." It emerged as a discipline over the past two centuries, and has grown "considerably" since

3952-540: The "Movement." Technologies Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals , especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines , and intangible ones such as software . Technology plays a critical role in science , engineering , and everyday life . Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology

4056-406: The 1970s, technology's impact on the environment has been criticized , leading to a surge in investment in solar , wind , and other forms of clean energy . Since the invention of the wheel, technologies have helped increase humans' economic output. Past automation has both substituted and complemented labor; machines replaced humans at some lower-paying jobs (for example in agriculture), but this

4160-429: The 1970s. The humanities philosophy of technology is concerned with the "meaning of technology for, and its impact on, society and culture". Initially, technology was seen as an extension of the human organism that replicated or amplified bodily and mental faculties. Marx framed it as a tool used by capitalists to oppress the proletariat, but believed that technology would be a fundamentally liberating force once it

4264-727: The Maker Faire model, similar events which don't use the Maker Faire brand have emerged around the world. A Maker Film Festival was announced for August 2014 Powerhouse Science Center in Durango, Colorado, featuring "Films About Makers, and Makers Making Movies." The Maker movement galvanized in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic , with participants initially directing their skills toward designing Open Source ventilators. They subsequently targeted production of Personal protective equipment (PPE) . Disruption of supply chains

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4368-610: The Neolithic but was originally used in the preceding Mesolithic in some areas such as Ireland. Agriculture fed larger populations, and the transition to sedentism allowed for the simultaneous raising of more children, as infants no longer needed to be carried around by nomads . Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could participate in hunter-gatherer activities. With this increase in population and availability of labor came an increase in labor specialization . What triggered

4472-677: The Palace of Knossos. Several Minoan private homes also had toilets, which could be flushed by pouring water down the drain. The ancient Romans had many public flush toilets, which emptied into an extensive sewage system . The primary sewer in Rome was the Cloaca Maxima ; construction began on it in the sixth century BCE and it is still in use today. The ancient Romans also had a complex system of aqueducts , which were used to transport water across long distances. The first Roman aqueduct

4576-471: The Paleolithic era include clothing and shelter. No consensus exists on the approximate time of adoption of either technology, but archaeologists have found archaeological evidence of clothing 90-120 kya and shelter 450 kya. As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more sophisticated and more elaborate; as early as 380 kya, humans were constructing temporary wood huts. Clothing, adapted from

4680-502: The Stanford Existential Risk Initiative. Future technologies may contribute to the risks of artificial general intelligence , biological warfare , nuclear warfare , nanotechnology , anthropogenic climate change , global warming , or stable global totalitarianism , though technologies may also help us mitigate asteroid impacts and gamma-ray bursts . In 2019 philosopher Nick Bostrom introduced

4784-661: The US. Clubs began as student organizations in primary and secondary schools offering industrial, the TechShop and Sparqs Industrial Arts Club based in Massachusetts which grew out of campus activities at MIT . Industrial Arts (IA) is an important part of the (NSW) high school curriculum. Industrial Arts syllabi are managed, like all NSW syllabi by the Board of Studies . In some schools Industrial Arts faculties have become part of

4888-1058: The United Kingdom. Said movements used distributed manufacturing methods; some cooperated with local government entities, local police and the national military to help locate supply shortages and manage distribution. Total production figures sides the maker community exceeded 48.3 million units produced, totaling a market value of about $ 271 million. The most-produced items included face shields (25 million), medical gowns (8 million) and face masks (6 million). The primary modes of production utilized were familiar tools like 3D printing , laser cutting or sewing machines , but multiple maker organizations scaled their production output by pooling funds to afford high-output methods like die cutting or injection molding . The maker movement has at times been criticized for not fulfilling its goals of inclusivity and democratization. Evgeny Morozov 's Making It in The New Yorker , challenging

4992-625: The academic discipline, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . In the 20th century, as a result of scientific progress and the Second Industrial Revolution , technology stopped being considered a distinct academic discipline and took on the meaning: the systemic use of knowledge to practical ends. Tools were initially developed by hominids through observation and trial and error . Around 2 Mya (million years ago), they learned to make

5096-493: The agricultural revolution: humans no longer needed to hunt or gather to survive, and began to settle in towns and cities, forming more complex societies, with militaries and more organized forms of religion. Technologies have contributed to human welfare through increased prosperity, improved comfort and quality of life, and medical progress , but they can also disrupt existing social hierarchies, cause pollution, and harm individuals or groups. Recent years have brought about

5200-460: The alteration of matter at the atomic and molecular level in various disciplines including computer science, engineering, and biology. And engineering ethics deals with the professional standards of engineers, including software engineers and their moral responsibilities to the public. A wide branch of technology ethics is concerned with the ethics of artificial intelligence : it includes robot ethics , which deals with ethical issues involved in

5304-467: The atmosphere, causing the greenhouse effect . This continues to gradually heat the earth, causing global warming and climate change . Measures of technological innovation correlates with a rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Pollution, the presence of contaminants in an environment that causes adverse effects, could have been present as early as the Inca Empire . They used a lead sulfide flux in

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5408-409: The basis of knowledge repositories and a central channel for information sharing and exchange of ideas, and focused through social meetings in shared spaces such as hackerspaces . Maker culture has attracted the interest of educators concerned about students’ disengagement from STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in formal educational settings. Maker culture is seen as having

5512-490: The belief that technological development is a moral good , which can and should bring about a utopia , that is, a society in which laws, governments, and social conditions serve the needs of all its citizens. Examples of techno-utopian goals include post-scarcity economics , life extension , mind uploading , cryonics , and the creation of artificial superintelligence . Major techno-utopian movements include transhumanism and singularitarianism . The transhumanism movement

5616-469: The challenges of small-scale project management. Some universities have doctoral programs in industrial arts. Industrial arts includes product design, industrial design, industrial photography and digital business arts. An industrial arts club is an organization that promotes the use of industrial fabrication equipment by the general public. Clubs have grown out of the decline of industrial arts (aka shop class) programs in comprehensive school systems in

5720-557: The city-state of Ur dates to around 3,429 BCE, and even older fragments of wheel-thrown pottery have been found in the same area. Fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery, but it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels , windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources. The first two-wheeled carts were derived from travois and were first used in Mesopotamia and Iran in around 3,000 BCE. The oldest known constructed roadways are

5824-491: The cloud) and licensing agreements. Some example of cloud-based tools include online project repositories like Appropedia and thingiverse , version-controlled collaborative platforms like GitHub and wevolver, knowledge sharing platforms like instructables , HowToMake, wikipedia and other Wikis , including WikiHow and wikifab and platforms for distributed manufacturing like shapeways and 100k garages . Programmable microcontrollers and single-board computers like

5928-471: The communication of knowledge. Technology became increasingly influenced by science, beginning a cycle of mutual advancement. Starting in the United Kingdom in the 18th century, the discovery of steam power set off the Industrial Revolution , which saw wide-ranging technological discoveries, particularly in the areas of agriculture , manufacturing, mining, metallurgy , and transport, and

6032-574: The curricula. As an educational term, industrial arts dates from 1904 when Charles R. Richards of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York suggested it to replace manual training . In the United States , industrial arts classes are colloquially known as " shop class "; these programs expose students to the basics of home repair, manual craftsmanship, and machine safety. Most industrial arts programs were established in comprehensive rather than dedicated vocational schools and focused on

6136-518: The design process. Autodesk's Fusion 360 is free for start ups and individuals, and Onshape and Tinkercad are browser-based digital design software. Online project repositories make many parts available for digital fabrication—even for people who are unable to do their own design work. Opendesk is one example of a company which has made a business by designing and hosting projects for distributed digital fabrication. Patreon and Kickstarter are two examples of distributed funding platforms key to

6240-444: The design, construction, use, and treatment of robots, as well as machine ethics , which is concerned with ensuring the ethical behavior of artificially intelligent agents . Within the field of AI ethics, significant yet-unsolved research problems include AI alignment (ensuring that AI behaviors are aligned with their creators' intended goals and interests) and the reduction of algorithmic bias . Some researchers have warned against

6344-416: The exclusive domain of institutions—have made making on a personal scale accessible, following a logical and economic progression similar to the transition from minicomputers to personal computers in the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s. In 2005, Dale Dougherty launched Make magazine to serve the growing community, followed by the launch of Maker Faire in 2006. The term, coined by Dougherty, grew into

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6448-563: The first of which (SpaceShop Rapid Prototyping Lab) resides at NASA Ames Research Center . In Europe the popularity of the labs is more prominent than in the US: about three times more labs exist there. Outside Europe and the US, the maker culture is also on the rise, with several hacker or makerspaces being landmarks in their respective cities' entrepreneurial and educational landscape. More precisely: HackerspaceSG in Singapore has been set up by

6552-553: The first stone tools by hammering flakes off a pebble, forming a sharp hand axe . This practice was refined 75 kya (thousand years ago) into pressure flaking , enabling much finer work. The discovery of fire was described by Charles Darwin as "possibly the greatest ever made by man". Archaeological, dietary, and social evidence point to "continuous [human] fire-use" at least 1.5 Mya. Fire, fueled with wood and charcoal , allowed early humans to cook their food to increase its digestibility, improving its nutrient value and broadening

6656-517: The fur and hides of hunted animals, helped humanity expand into colder regions; humans began to migrate out of Africa around 200 kya, initially moving to Eurasia . The Neolithic Revolution (or First Agricultural Revolution ) brought about an acceleration of technological innovation, and a consequent increase in social complexity. The invention of the polished stone axe was a major advance that allowed large-scale forest clearance and farming. This use of polished stone axes increased greatly in

6760-470: The future". Cloud computing describes a family of tools in service of the maker movement, enabling increased collaboration, digital workflow, distributed manufacturing (i.e. the download of files that translate directly into objects via a digitized manufacturing process) and sharing economy . This, combined with the open source movement, initially focused on software, has been expanding into open-source hardware , assisted by easy access to online plans (in

6864-441: The hypothetical risk of an AI takeover , and have advocated for the use of AI capability control in addition to AI alignment methods. Other fields of ethics have had to contend with technology-related issues, including military ethics , media ethics , and educational ethics . Futures studies is the systematic and interdisciplinary study of social and technological progress. It aims to quantitatively and qualitatively explore

6968-488: The introduction of skyscrapers accompanied by rapid urbanization. Communication improved with the invention of the telegraph , the telephone, the radio, and television. The 20th century brought a host of innovations. In physics, the discovery of nuclear fission in the Atomic Age led to both nuclear weapons and nuclear power . Analog computers were invented and asserted dominance in processing complex data. While

7072-508: The invention of vacuum tubes allowed for digital computing with computers like the ENIAC , their sheer size precluded widespread use until innovations in quantum physics allowed for the invention of the transistor in 1947, which significantly compacted computers and led the digital transition. Information technology, particularly optical fiber and optical amplifiers , allowed for simple and fast long-distance communication, which ushered in

7176-404: The issue more thoroughly; others fear that directed evolution could lead to eugenics or extreme social inequality. Nanotechnology will grant us the ability to manipulate matter "at the molecular and atomic scale", which could allow us to reshape ourselves and our environment in fundamental ways. Nanobots could be used within the human body to destroy cancer cells or form new body parts, blurring

7280-690: The line between biology and technology. Autonomous robots have undergone rapid progress, and are expected to replace humans at many dangerous tasks, including search and rescue , bomb disposal , firefighting , and war. Estimates on the advent of artificial general intelligence vary, but half of machine learning experts surveyed in 2018 believe that AI will "accomplish every task better and more cheaply" than humans by 2063, and automate all human jobs by 2140. This expected technological unemployment has led to calls for increased emphasis on computer science education and debates about universal basic income . Political science experts predict that this could lead to

7384-759: The major types. This involves making scientific instruments for citizen science or open source labs . With the advent of low-cost digital manufacturing it is becoming increasingly common for scientists as well as amateurs to fabricate their own scientific apparatuses from open source hardware designs. Docubricks is a repository of open source science hardware. Examples of maker culture in food production include baking , homebrewing , winemaking , home roasting coffee , vegoil , pickling , sausage , cheesemaking , yogurt and pastry production. This can also extend into urban agriculture , composting and synthetic biology . Like many other craft objects, also clothing has traditionally been made at home. But within

7488-635: The maker culture is closely associated with the rise of hackerspaces , fablabs and other "makerspaces", of which there are now many around the world, including over 100 each in Germany and the United States. Hackerspaces allow like-minded individuals to share ideas, tools, and skillsets. Some notable hackerspaces which have been linked with the maker culture include Artisan's Asylum , Dallas Makerspace, Noisebridge , NYC Resistor , Pumping Station: One, and TechShop . In addition, those who identify with

7592-787: The maker culture, also clothes has seen a resurgence. Clothes can include sew and no-sew DIY hacks, and pattern-sharing magazines and platforms, such as Burda Style . Especially the open source element has been picked up by a new generation of makers, creating open patterns and platforms for sharing patterns, sewing methods and construction techniques. Hacking has also been a popular reference to DIY clothing and up cycling. Clothing can also include knitted or crocheted clothing and accessories. Some knitters may use knitting machines with varying degrees of automatic patterning. Fully electronic knitting machines can be interfaced to computers running computer-aided design software. Arduino boards have been interfaced to electronic knitting machines to further automate

7696-407: The maker movement. Maker culture is not all about new, digital technologies. Traditional and analog tools remain crucial to the movement. Traditional tools are often more familiar and accessible, which is key to maker culture. In many places and projects where digital fabrication tools are just not suitable, Hand tools are. Maker culture involves many types of making – this section reviews some of

7800-576: The mid-1940s, he built the Electronic Sackbut , now recognised to be one of the first synthesizers . In 1953, Robert Moog produced his own theremin design, and the following year he published an article on the theremin in Radio and Television News. In the same year, he founded RA Moog, selling theremins and theremin kits by mail order from his home. One of his customers, Raymond Scott , rewired Moog's theremin for control by keyboard, creating

7904-529: The movement's potential to actually disrupt or democratize innovation; and Will Holman 's The Toaster Paradox , about Thomas Thwaites ' the Toaster Project 's challenges to the DIY and "Maker impulse." Critical making can also be seen as an argument against or a comment on maker culture, which has been explored by Garnet Hertz , Eric Paulos , John Maeda , Matt Ratto and others. The primary argument

8008-417: The next technological revolution would rest upon advances in genetics , nanotechnology , and robotics , with robotics being the most impactful of the three technologies. Genetic engineering will allow far greater control over human biological nature through a process called directed evolution . Some thinkers believe that this may shatter our sense of self, and have urged for renewed public debate exploring

8112-419: The notion of a vulnerable world , "one in which there is some level of technological development at which civilization almost certainly gets devastated by default", citing the risks of a pandemic caused by bioterrorists , or an arms race triggered by the development of novel armaments and the loss of mutual assured destruction . He invites policymakers to question the assumptions that technological progress

8216-443: The number of foods that could be eaten. The cooking hypothesis proposes that the ability to cook promoted an increase in hominid brain size , though some researchers find the evidence inconclusive. Archaeological evidence of hearths was dated to 790 kya; researchers believe this is likely to have intensified human socialization and may have contributed to the emergence of language . Other technological advances made during

8320-507: The oldest-known wooden wheel in the world as of 2024 was found in the Ljubljana Marsh of Slovenia ; Austrian experts have established that the wheel is between 5,100 and 5,350 years old. The invention of the wheel revolutionized trade and war. It did not take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads. The ancient Sumerians used a potter's wheel and may have invented it. A stone pottery wheel found in

8424-441: The popular weblog Boing Boing . Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow has written a novel, Makers , which he describes as being "a book about people who hack hardware, business-models, and living arrangements to discover ways of staying alive and happy even when the economy is falling down the toilet". In 2016 Intel sponsored a reality TV show— America's Greatest Makers —where 24 teams of makers compete for $ 1 million. Since 2006

8528-521: The potential to contribute to a more participatory approach and create new pathways into topics that will make them more alive and relevant to learners. Some say that the maker movement is a reaction to the de-valuing of physical exploration and the growing sense of disconnection with the physical world in modern cities. Many products produced by the maker communities have a focus on health (food), sustainable development , environmentalism and local culture , and can from that point of view also be seen as

8632-553: The privacy of cryptocurrency, many also argue that it needs more transparency and stability. Technology can have both positive and negative effects on the environment. Environmental technology , describes an array of technologies which seek to reverse, mitigate or halt environmental damage to the environment. This can include measures to halt pollution through environmental regulations, capture and storage of pollution, or using pollutant byproducts in other industries. Other examples of environmental technology include deforestation and

8736-791: The process. Free People , a popular clothing retailer for young women, often hosts craft nights inside the doors of its Anthropologie locations. Maker cosmetics include perfumes , creams , lotions , shampoos , and eye shadow . Tool kits for maker cosmetics can include beakers , digital scales , laboratory thermometers (if possible, from -20 to 110 °C), pH paper , glass rods , plastic spatulas , and spray to disinfect with alcohol. Perfumes can be created at home using ethanol (96%, or even vodka or everclear ), essential oils or fragrance oils , infused oils , even flavour extracts (such as pure vanilla extract ), distilled or spring water and glycerine . Tools include glass bottles , glass jar , measuring cup / measuring spoons ,

8840-417: The progression from early Neolithic villages to the first cities, such as Uruk , and the first civilizations, such as Sumer , is not specifically known; however, the emergence of increasingly hierarchical social structures and specialized labor, of trade and war among adjacent cultures, and the need for collective action to overcome environmental challenges such as irrigation , are all thought to have played

8944-409: The range of plausible futures and to incorporate human values in the development of new technologies. More generally, futures researchers are interested in improving "the freedom and welfare of humankind". It relies on a thorough quantitative and qualitative analysis of past and present technological trends, and attempts to rigorously extrapolate them into the future. Science fiction is often used as

9048-401: The reversing of deforestation. Emerging technologies in the fields of climate engineering may be able to halt or reverse global warming and its environmental impacts, although this remains highly controversial. As technology has advanced, so too has the negative environmental impact, with increased release of greenhouse gases , including methane , nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide , into

9152-599: The rise of cities, which will host 60% of the human population by 2030, hackerspaces, fablabs and makerspaces will likely gain traction, as they are places for local entrepreneurs to gather and collaborate, providing local solutions to environmental, social or economical issues. The Institute for the Future has launched in this regard Maker Cities as "an open and collaborative online game, to generate ideas about how citizens are changing work, production, governance, learning, well-being, and their neighborhoods, and what this means for

9256-454: The role and use of technology, the ethics of technology , and ways to mitigate its downsides are ongoing. Technology is a term dating back to the early 17th century that meant 'systematic treatment' (from Greek Τεχνολογία , from the Greek : τέχνη , romanized :  tékhnē , lit.   'craft, art' and -λογία , 'study, knowledge'). It is predated in use by

9360-537: The stone-paved streets of the city-state of Ur, dating to c.  4,000 BCE , and timber roads leading through the swamps of Glastonbury , England, dating to around the same period. The first long-distance road, which came into use around 3,500 BCE, spanned 2,400 km from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea , but was not paved and was only partially maintained. In around 2,000 BCE,

9464-516: The subculture can be found at more traditional universities with a technical orientation, such as MIT and Carnegie Mellon University (specifically around " shop " areas like the MIT Hobby Shop and CMU Robotics Club). As maker culture becomes more popular, hackerspaces and Fab Labs are becoming more common in universities and public libraries. The federal government has started adopting the concept of fully open makerspaces within its agencies,

9568-405: The subculture has held regular events around the world, Maker Faire , which in 2012 drew a crowd of 120,000 attendees. Smaller, community driven Maker Faires referred to as Mini Maker Fairs are also held in various places where an O'Reilly-organised Maker Faire has not yet been held. Maker Faire provides a Mini Maker Faire starter kit to encourage the spread of local Maker Faire events. Following

9672-539: The team now leading the city-state's (and, arguably, South-East Asia's) most prominent accelerator JFDI.Asia. Lamba Labs in Beirut is recognized as a hackerspace where people can collaborate freely, in a city often divided by its different ethnic and religious groups. Xinchejian in Shanghai is China's first hackerspace, which allows for innovation and collaboration in a country known for its strong internet censorship. With

9776-420: The three electives on offer are Design and Technology, Graphics Technology, and Industrial Technology. The most popular Industrial Arts elective is Industrial Technology. In Years 11 and 12, Industrial Arts offers three Higher School Certificate (HSC) non-Vocational courses: Design and Technology, Engineering Studies, and Industrial Technology. In NSW the professional association for Industrial Arts teachers

9880-476: The time, Technologie (German and French) referred either to the academic discipline studying the "methods of arts and crafts", or to the political discipline "intended to legislate on the functions of the arts and crafts." The distinction between Technik and Technologie is absent in English, and so both were translated as technology . The term was previously uncommon in English and mostly referred to

9984-527: The use of robotic soldiers, algorithmic bias , and the issue of aligning AI behavior with human values. Technology ethics encompasses several key fields. Bioethics looks at ethical issues surrounding biotechnologies and modern medicine, including cloning, human genetic engineering, and stem cell research. Computer ethics focuses on issues related to computing. Cyberethics explores internet-related issues like intellectual property rights , privacy , and censorship . Nanoethics examines issues surrounding

10088-506: The value judgments that shape technology. Cultural critic Neil Postman distinguished tool-using societies from technological societies and from what he called "technopolies", societies that are dominated by an ideology of technological and scientific progress to the detriment of other cultural practices, values, and world views. Herbert Marcuse and John Zerzan suggest that technological society will inevitably deprive us of our freedom and psychological health. The ethics of technology

10192-527: The widespread application of the factory system . This was followed a century later by the Second Industrial Revolution which led to rapid scientific discovery, standardization, and mass production. New technologies were developed, including sewage systems , electricity, light bulbs , electric motors , railroads, automobiles , and airplanes. These technological advances led to significant developments in medicine, chemistry , physics , and engineering. They were accompanied by consequential social change, with

10296-529: Was "freed from societal deformations". Second-wave philosophers like Ortega later shifted their focus from economics and politics to "daily life and living in a techno-material culture", arguing that technology could oppress "even the members of the bourgeoisie who were its ostensible masters and possessors." Third-stage philosophers like Don Ihde and Albert Borgmann represent a turn toward de-generalization and empiricism, and considered how humans can learn to live with technology. Early scholarship on technology

10400-741: Was a mounting problem, particularly in the early days of the pandemic, and compounded with the Shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the medical sectors. The response was largely regional and spread across 86 countries on 6 continents, and coordinated their response, designs and shared insights with each other through intermediary organizations such as Tikkun Olam Makers , the Fab Fouhdation or Open Source Medical Supplies which included more than 70,000 people. National movements emerged in Germany, Brazil, Romania, France, Spain, India, and

10504-574: Was built in 312 BCE. The eleventh and final ancient Roman aqueduct was built in 226 CE. Put together, the Roman aqueducts extended over 450 km, but less than 70 km of this was above ground and supported by arches. Innovations continued through the Middle Ages with the introduction of silk production (in Asia and later Europe), the horse collar , and horseshoes . Simple machines (such as

10608-513: Was compensated by the creation of new, higher-paying jobs. Studies have found that computers did not create significant net technological unemployment . Due to artificial intelligence being far more capable than computers, and still being in its infancy, it is not known whether it will follow the same trend; the question has been debated at length among economists and policymakers. A 2017 survey found no clear consensus among economists on whether AI would increase long-term unemployment. According to

10712-536: Was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times (about 10 kya). Native copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal fires. Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such as bronze and brass (about 4,000 BCE). The first use of iron alloys such as steel dates to around 1,800 BCE. After harnessing fire, humans discovered other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power

10816-649: Was split between two arguments: technological determinism , and social construction . Technological determinism is the idea that technologies cause unavoidable social changes. It usually encompasses a related argument, technological autonomy, which asserts that technological progress follows a natural progression and cannot be prevented. Social constructivists argue that technologies follow no natural progression, and are shaped by cultural values, laws, politics, and economic incentives. Modern scholarship has shifted towards an analysis of sociotechnical systems , "assemblages of things, people, practices, and meanings", looking at

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