In: Operations Management
broadly discuss info technology in relation to social affairs.
Info technology in relation to social affairs refer to the
interdependence, co-influence, and co-production of technology and
society over other areas (technology on culture and vice versa).
This combination took place from the dawn of humanity with the
development of simple devices and continued in modern technologies
such as printing and computers. Discipline that studies the effects
of science, technology and society and vice versa is called science
and technology.
The simplest form of technology is the development and use of basic
tools. Prehistoric discoveries of fire control and the Neolithic
revolution have increased food availability, and bicycle inventions
have helped people to travel and control the environment.
Historical developments, including printers, telephones, and the
Internet, have reduced physical barriers to communication and
allowed people to interact freely around the world.
Technology has many influences. It helped to develop a more
advanced economy (including the world economy today) and allowed
for the rise of the entertainment class. Many technological
processes produce unwanted products known as pollution and
depletion of natural resources that endanger the earth's
environment. Innovation has always influenced social values and
raised new questions regarding technological ethics. Examples
include raising the notion of efficiency in relation to human
productivity and the challenges of biochemistry.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with
disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition
or makes it worse. Symbolism, anarchism, and similar reactionary
movements have criticized the spread of technology, arguing that it
is harmful to the environment and alienates people. Adherence to
ideologies such as human change and scientific technology sees the
continuation of technological advances as beneficial to society and
the human condition.