A Course Investigating Technology In World Civilization

An interdisciplinary course has been created that explores a historical perspective of the development of technology in a global context. This junior level course traces the interconnected events and cultures in which technology developed. It investigates how technologies are interrelated and how cultural factors affect the acceptance or rejection of technology. The intent of the course was to enhance the student’s understanding of how technologies developed and why. The social, political, economic and cultural impacts of technologies are explored to determine their positive and negative affects. In this context the two biggest technology drivers of agriculture and war are studied in detail. Through innovations agriculture was able to produce more food allowing populations to grow. While new inventions created more effective and devastating weapons of war used to kill and destroy.