As a class we are engaging in a discussion of what makes "a technology". Each student is blogging about what specific technologies have been important in their lives. Of course we are all English majors so the printing press, pens, pencils, paper, etc. are hot ticket items! As you see my blog is a scroll, just in case you weren't getting the picture yet. I have a feeling no one outside of the class will read this, so it seems strange, if not insane, to write as though there were some vast audience out there reading my fascinating posts, but here's hoping!
Technology is such an integral part of our everyday lives that I hardly notice what is or isn't a technology. I do, however, notice when technology
doesn't work! Like the time my computer crashed three days before my senior thesis was due in college. Yeah, I noticed that technology. I also notice technology and its importance, power, and prestige when I travel, especially to countries
where technology is less advanced or less integral than in the U.S. So although the internet, personal computers, ipods, etc. have undoubtedly shaped and influenced my life, the following technologies have had profound or vital effects:
- Inhalers/Breathing Treatments/Respirators: These saved the life of my asthmatic brother and myself many times in childhood! Lots of holidays spent in the ER.
- Antibiotics: Clearly a weak little child, I was sick all the time! Luckily amoxicillin in liquid form tastes like bubblegum.
- Iodine Tablets: My husband and I have traveled to some wild and desolate places where running or drinkable water is not exactly an option. These little pills make desolation a bit more hospitable.
- Flying contraptions/Trains/Automobiles: All of these technologies of movement and travel have been tremendously important in my life, especially because I have a love for foreign places and their:
- Wonderous Works of Architecture: Like the Eiffel Tower, the Colloseum, even the Golden Gate Bridge!
- Fiberglass: This invention or technological advance has impacted the world of sailing profoundly. Having lived on a sailboat for two years I can tell you it is very nice compared to a wooden or cement ship!
- Safety Glass: Car accidents...yikes, imagine if the windshield weren't made out of this!
- Pack Soap: A simple thing, but so magnificent! This biodegradable and eco-friendly soap can be used in any lake, stream, or river to wash the grime off!
- The Camera Obscura: This little box led to photography, one of my passions!
- Epidurals: I have had the honor/traumatizing experience of being in the room for three births, need I say more?
- Fax machine: A little odd, but without the fax machine I wouldn't have
been able to apply to graduate school in California from New Zealand and
life would be very different now!
