Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. It may be used in industry and commerce or to benefit humanity as a whole. Technological advances offer many advantages, but there are also concerns about how new technologies can be exploited. The complexities of technological change and its impact on the world require scholarly investigation.
Technological development can be an iterative process, with the invention of new materials and techniques being combined to produce more advanced technologies. It is rare for a single scientific discovery to make the leap from laboratory to marketplace, and even apparently promising early technologies often stall midway through their development. This iterative process is important, as each new step validates the underlying ideas and builds confidence in the eventual product.
Increasingly, the most cutting-edge developments in technology focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. These technologies can perform tasks much faster than humans and with greater accuracy, allowing people to do more fulfilling work. They are also changing how businesses operate, with automation replacing manual and repetitive processes, freeing human employees to concentrate on more complex tasks.
Other forms of technology include mechanical devices like gears and cogwheels, which are used in machinery to control changes in speed and power. Communication technology allows people to share information through speech, writing, and images such as cave paintings, petroglyphs, pictograms, and ideograms. The Internet is a form of communication technology that allows people to access information from anywhere in the world, and IT systems such as databases store, organize and retrieve data.