Technology Timeline.

Globalization is a process. To understand the process of technology and how it got to where it is today, it's important to consider the historical aspects of technology. There have been several innovations, philopohers and events that have contributed to the advancement of technology. I came across a timeline of technology at http://www.history-timelines.org.uk/events-timelines/12-technology-timeline.htm. This timeline demonstrates the progression of technology since its inception in 2400 BC. This seems an appropriate starting point, because it is when the abacus was invented. The abacus is a cultural object that signifies that beginning of intelligence as an object; the beginning of math and science as used by humans; the beginning of technology. Few events occurred between the invention of the abacus and the beginning of technology as we know it; the events that did occur are the invention of the mechanical clock, eyeglasses, suspension bridges, etc. The first evidence of computer technology was in 1500 with the first mechanical robot. After this, the advancement of technology occurred at an increasingly rapid rate. Famous contributors, in order of appearance, include Galileo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, James Watt, Eli Whitney, Samuel Colt, Samuel Morse, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford and Albert Einstein. Each of these individuals, and the many others, contributed by expanding their knowledge and applying it an area in which they believed could be bettered.

The events that should be noted are the invention of the abacus, the telescope, steam engines, the computer, the electric motor, photography, morse code, the revolver, the typewriter, television, nuclear power reactors, the ballpoint pen, e-mail and finally, the world wide web.

It must be asked: is this where it stops? This timeline stops with the invention of digital satellite radio. I imagine the site has not been updated. But what if this is not the case and the site creators simply feel as if there's been nothing else to add. Have our inventions in the past simply been improvements of current ideas? Have they aided in the global revolution, or have they simply served as improvements and ways of making simple things even simpler?

Without any one of these inventions, we would not be where we are today as a society in terms of technology. It would be interested to study technology as a calculation of how the exclusion of any one of these actors in history or their relative inventions would have affected our society and technology as it currently exists. Would it have affected those cultures that currently don't use any of these items?

This thought makes Dr. Nayef's complexity with which he approached globalization significant now; globalization is completely culturally dependent. This is true as well for our studies of technology. We have adopted so many technologies into our society and we use these items and ideas every day. Technology to us, today, is computers, email, the internet, electricty, and covers manufacturing, production and communication. In un-developed countries, what is technology? Is technology still the way that they've shaped their rocks to become efficient tools for cooking and sewing? According to the definitions, this is technology. And though globalization is global, have these countries been affected?