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Technological Change Quotes

Browse 43 quotes about Technological Change.

Technological Change Quotes

“Ever increasing human knowledge is the ultimate cause of the development of human societies from hunter gathering to agrarian to industrial societies. However as human societies change from one form to another, there are substantial changes in the social and cultural institutions of those societies. The different types of societies tend to develop with different population structures, class systems, belief systems, government and legal systems, and different types of economies. The changes to these social and cultural systems are dependent on the prior changes to technological systems and so occur in a particular order as the technological changes occur in a particular order.”

Karl MarxTechnological ChangeCultural EvolutionPhilosophy Of HistoryKarl PopperHistoricismBig HistoryMacrohistoryMacrosociologyMetahistory
Author:Rochelle Forrester
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“Changes in human knowledge causes changes in technology and through the effect that technology has on the social and cultural systems of a society, the change in human knowledge will affect all elements in that society. Changes in human knowledge may also directly affect the social and cultural systems in human society. Ideas such as biological evolution and cultural relativity have affected human society, without producing any technological innovations. Human history in all its elements will be effected by the increase in knowledge that gradually accumulates in human culture.”

Karl MarxTechnological ChangeCultural EvolutionPhilosophy Of HistoryKarl PopperHistoricismHistorical ChangeBig HistoryMacrohistoryMacrosociology
Author:Rochelle Forrester
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“The ultimate cause of much historical, social and cultural change is the gradual accumulation of human knowledge of the environment. Human beings use the materials in their environment to meet their needs and increased human knowledge of the environment enables human needs to be met in a more efficient manner. The human environment has a particular structure so that human knowledge of the environment is acquired in a particular order. The simplest knowledge is acquired first and more complex knowledge is acquired later. The order of discovery determines the course of human social and cultural history as knowledge of new and more efficient means of meeting human needs, results in new technology, which results in the development of new social and ideological systems. This means human social and cultural history, has to follow a particular course, a course that is determined by the structure of the human environment.”

Karl MarxTechnological ChangeCultural EvolutionHistoricismMacrohistoryMacrosociologyTheories Of History
Book:How Change Happens: A Theory of Philosophy of History, Social Change and Cultural Evolution
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“all societies have certain needs or desires and they meet these needs by utilizing the resources in their environments. The ability to utilize those resources changes as their knowledge of their environment changes. In particular they develop knowledge of the properties of the resources in their environment and how the resources in their environment can be used to meet human needs and desires. Human knowledge of the resources is dynamic; it changes over time. Greater knowledge of the properties of the resources in the environment allows new ways in which human needs can be meet by exploiting resources in the environment. Our knowledge of our environment grows in a particular order; certain knowledge will inevitably be discovered before other knowledge. The order of our discoveries about nature determines the order of technological change and scientific discoveries in human society. The order of our discoveries of both the properties and structure of nature depend upon the relationship between nature and us. We discover these things in an order from that which is closest to us, to that which is further away, or perhaps in an order from the simplest to the more complex. It is the structure of the universe and our place in it, which determines the order in which our knowledge of nature will grow and this determines what technological and scientific options are available to meet our needs and desires.”

Karl MarxTechnological ChangeCultural EvolutionHistoricismHistorical ChangeBig HistoryMacrohistoryMacrosociology
Book:How Change Happens: A Theory of Philosophy of History, Social Change and Cultural Evolution
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“The key to understanding the course of history is to divide history into two parts. One part follows a predetermined direction and the other part is random and unpredictable. The part that follows a predetermined direction is the part that results from ever increasing human knowledge of the world we live in. The world we live in is structured and understandable and is explained by the laws of physics, chemistry and biology and the known properties of the particles, elements and compounds that make up our world. Our ever increasing knowledge of these laws and properties of matter comes to us in a predetermined and rational order from the easiest discoveries being made first to the more difficult discoveries being made later.”

Karl MarxTechnological ChangeCultural ChangeHistoricismBig HistoryMacro SociologyMacro HistoryMeta History
Author:Rochelle Forrester
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“Like the story of the steam drill against John Henry, the machine will be victorious because it doesn’t get tired and keeps on going long after a human worker will have dropped dead from exhaustion. The modern-day steam drill is likely to be an AI system, and John Henry is played by the planner, doctor, analyst, stockbroker or accountant who believes that they can process more data and crunch more numbers than the new machine overlords. They can’t.”

TechnologyFuturismTechnological ChangeFuture Economics
Book:Transition Point: From Steam to the Singularity
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“We should not be complacent and view China’s actions as those of an alien nation; they are in many ways simply more honest about their totalitarianism. To control a population of disenfranchised and divided people, Western governments and bodies like the EU are all following China’s example and calling upon the power of digital and financial corporations to monitor and report on their citizen’s activities both in the real world and online. Their veneer of democratic respectability is peeling away, allowing people to see the truth that lies beneath.”

FreedomSocietyTotalitarianismTechnological Change
Book:Transition Point: From Steam to the Singularity
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“MY LOVE, The day Prometheus breathed life into the new me, was the day you arrived in a little box. A shiny, futuristic black box, Pandora's box, despite my doubts I couldn't help but open it to finally meet you. Doubts, because I was happy with who I was, with who I saw looking at me through the eyes of others I presented myself to in everyday life. But I was seduced by the worlds that were promised to me if I let you into my life, who I would be with you in my pocket. As soon as the lid came off and I swiped my fingers over your radiant surface for the first time, the world and I were bursting at the seams. What a creation we were together, to what sized we grew! My brain an encyclopedia, my body an unerring compass, my eyes and ears reaching infinitely with you as an extension of myself. Through you, I, the cyborg, could enter bewilderingly virtual spaces in which I was presently absent, meanwhile absently present in the material world of boring train rides, waiting lines, and mindless chit chats with others. I felt invincible, transformed into a citizen of the world because of you, an intellectual of unimaginable proportions for the vast sea of knowledge you allowed me to surf on, a public speaker and influencer of significance because my words and visual snippets of my days could be launched into the world with the flick of a finger, likes enticing and confirming me. How intoxicating! How wonderfully, pleasantly, intoxicating! But I can't help but sometimes lie awake at night, my internal clock slowing down with your seductive blue light illuminating my face with 2, 457, 600 (1920×1080) LED suns. In those moments, as my eyes are captivated by your glow, I can't help thinking about the time before you arrived, and how I sometimes miss my low definition self. You were always there, sometimes it feels like we are in fact one — finally reunited with my other Plato's half, fused into not a circle but a perfect black rectangle. Through your eyes I see the world and myself in Ultra-HD, my pixel density has never been so high. But you are sometimes vicious, my dear — a viper, a temptress, when then again with sweet codes you reflect my most beautiful self, and I cannot help but love me through your gaze, then again with suffocating algorithms you fragment my self and blow it up to grotesque self-distortions, hurling me into an endless me-loop, that eventually disgusts and alienates me. In those moments you are a distorting mirror, a frightening black box, a black hole that swallows my attention in ways I can't see through. I see my old self disappearing in the vague, dark reflection of myself, with double chin and dull eyes, which I sometimes catch in your black glass when your suns stop dazzling me for a split second. And I can't help but wonder if my 'self' in times of its digital recombination, in which the 'I' is a fragmented multitude of pixels that never fully touch at their sides, a simulacrum, maybe has lost some of its aura. But in the morning all is forgotten, my love, all is well. As soon as we merge back into one, as soon as I, panicked, reach for my pocket on the train, only to discover with a glow of relief that you were there after all, I can't imagine an "I" without you. Artificial by nature my self resides within your screen, I would be lost without you.”

IdentityPhoneTechnological Change
Author:Elize de Mul
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“Science fiction is the branch of literature that deals with the effects of change on people in the real world as it can be projected into the past, the future, or to distant places. It often concerns itself with scientific or technological change, and it usually involves matters whose importance is greater than the individual or the community; often civilization or the race itself is in danger.”

PeopleWorldRealMatterPastLiteratureIndividualCommunityDealsRaceFictionGreaterEffectsDangerCivilizationConcernImportanceScience FictionBranchesReal WorldTechnologicalTechnological Change
Book:Road to Science Fiction 2
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“I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance ... and bitter, exaggerated, last-stitch resistance ... to every significant technological change that had taken place on earth. Usually the resistance came from those groups who stood to lose influence, status, money...as a result of the change. Although they never advanced this as their reason for resisting it. It was always the good of humanity that rested upon their hearts.”

HeartReasonEarthLastsHumanityLosesResultsTakenGroupsInfluenceSignificantResistanceBitterTechnologicalResistingExaggeratedAmazementStitchesTechnological Change
Author:Isaac Asimov
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“Television thus illustrates the mixed blessings of technological change in American society. It is a new medium, promising extraordinary benefits: great educational potential, a broadening of experience, enrichment of daily life, entertainment for all. But it teaches children the uses of violence, offers material consumption as the answer to life's problems, sells harmful products, habituates viewers to constant stimulation, and undermines family interaction and other forms of learning such as play and reading.”

ChildrenPlayUseProblemFormReadingAnswersTeachViolenceTelevisionMaterialsProductsBlessingOffersBenefitsSellsConstantExtraordinaryEntertainmentEducationalMediumsDaily LifeInteractionConsumptionTechnologicalViewersStimulationAmerican SocietyGreat EducationalEnrichmentTechnological ChangeAnswers To Life
Author:Kenneth Keniston
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“Long distances used to be a moat that both insulated and isolated people from workers on the other side of the world. But every day, technology narrows that moat inch by inch. Every person in the world is on the verge of becoming both a coworker and a competitor to every one of us ... Technological change is going to reach out and sooner or later change something fundamental in your business world.”

PeopleWorldPersonsLongUsedSidesTechnologyBecomingFundamentalsDistanceWorkersUsed To BeReach OutIsolatedInchesSooner Or LaterTechnologicalCompetitorsLong DistanceVergeBusiness WorldCoworkerTechnological ChangeMoats
Author:Andy Grove
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“Anyone who has studied the history of technology knows that technological change is always a Faustian bargain: Technology giveth and technology taketh away, and not always in equal measure. A new technology sometimes creates more than it destroys. Sometimes, it destroys more than it creates. But it is never one-sided. The invention of the printing press is an excellent example. Printing fostered the modern idea of individuality but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and social integration.”

KnowsIdeasSometimesSocialCommunityTechnologyModernExampleEqualPressesIndividualityInventionDestroyedExcellentTechnologicalIntegrationMedievalBargainsPrintingNew TechnologyPrinting PressOne SidedTechnological Change
Author:Neil Postman
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“Maybe one thing that has happened is that the claims of non-partisanship of the mainstream media have been a little bit exploded. Mostly I'd say what, if anything has caused the change, are just the obvious technological changes - proliferation of easier access to getting your opinions out and the proliferation of media.”

IfsLittlesHas BeensBitsOpinionHappenedOne ThingMediaEasierLittle BitClaimsObviousAccessWhat IfMainstreamTechnologicalProliferationPartisanshipMainstream MediaTechnological Change
Author:William Kristol
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“What is the appeal of Trump, really? It's nostalgic: "Make America great again." Like European nationalists, he has a vision of a "real" America, one which predates globalization, immigration, feminism, the civil rights movement and technological change, an imaginary 1950s to which we can now return. That is actually not very different from the kind of language that Marine Le Pen uses, or parts of the Brexit movement.”

KindDifferentRealUseAmericaLanguageVisionRightsFeminismMovementReturnTrumpImmigrationCivil RightsAppealsPensImaginaryTechnologicalGlobalizationMarineCivil Rights MovementNostalgicTechnological Change
Author:Anne Applebaum
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“I believe that Silicon Valley is truly a place of excellence and the impact of this tiny community on the world is completely disproportionate to its size. We are the undisputed leaders of technological change. But with our abundance of talent and resources, we also have the opportunity to be the pioneers of social change and, ultimately, this may be our greatest contribution.”

WorldBelieveMayOpportunityI BelieveSocialCommunityBusinessLeaderTechnologyTalentResourcesImpactExcellenceSizeTinyContributionAbundanceValleysTechnologicalSocial ChangePioneersSiliconSilicon ValleyBeliveTechnological ChangeUndisputed
Author:Jeffrey Skoll
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“The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.”

WorldYearsPersonsReasonPastPoliticalTechnologyEconomicCenturyChangedEconomicsScientistTechnologicalTechnological Change
Author:Stephen Hawking
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“Engineering is not merely knowing and being knowledgeable, like a walking encyclopedia; engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is not merely the possession of the capacity to get elegant solutions to non-existent engineering problems; engineering is practicing the art of the organizing forces of technological change ... Engineers operate at the interface between science and society.”

ArtProblemScienceForceKnowledgeKnowingWalkingSolutionsCapacityPossessionAnalysisEngineeringEngineersTechnologicalElegantKnowledgeableInterfacesEncyclopediaTechnological ChangeEngineering InspirationalScience And SocietyElegant Solutions
Author:Gordon S. Brown
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“For the other end of the spectrum, the 50 to 85 percent of the world's population who are not the recipients of privilege, the world they know is almost certainly worse than any their earlier counterparts knew. It is likely they are worse off materially, despite the technological changes. In substantive as opposed to formal terms, they are more, not less, subject to arbitrary constraints, since the central mechanisms are more pervasive and more efficient. And they bear the brunt of the various kinds of psychic malaise, as well as of the destructiveness of civil wars.”

KnowsWorldWellsKindWarEndsTermSubjectsBearsPercentCapitalismPrivilegePopulationVariousDespiteCivil WarMechanismEfficientFormalTechnologicalPsychicsArbitrarySpectrumConstraintsCounterpartsMalaiseDestructivenessTechnological Change
Author:Immanuel Wallerstein
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“But now, we are becoming suspicious of the very things we have long celebrated - free markets, trade, immigration, and technological change. And all this is happening when the tide is going our way. Just as the world is opening up, America is closing down.”

WorldWayLongAmericaBecomingHappeningsTradeImmigrationOpeningTidesTechnologicalFree MarketClosingSuspiciousOpening UpTechnological ChangeClosing Down
Book:The Post-American World: And The Rise Of The Rest
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“Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity -- technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.”

HumansLightUniverseLevelsMachinesProfoundSpeedDecadesImmortalSoftwareFabricTechnologicalHuman HistoryRapidsImplicationsHigh LevelSingularityHuman IntelligenceUltrasSpeed Of LightMergersRuptureTechnological Change
Author:Ray Kurzweil
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“We live in an extraordinary time. We are caught up in a pace of social and technological change that makes our work, our business and education, sources of anxiety and unfulfillment. Thinking about our thinking and observing our observations can bring us a new world in which work becomes a place for innovation, and in which peace, wisdom, friendship, companionship and community can exist. Let us design this world together.”

ThinkingWorldTogetherSocialCommunityDesignThis WorldSourceAnxietyInnovationExtraordinaryCaughtObservationPaceNew WorldTechnologicalCompanionshipCaught UpObservingTechnological ChangeUnfulfillment
Author:Fernando Flores
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“There is no telling what is going to happen in the music business in the next few years, hours, minutes, seconds. Giving artists the chance to produce and distribute their own material is great, very empowering. The technological changes that are happening so rapidly now, amongst all the opinions, are in truth, only two things, inevitable and unstoppable.”

GivingYearsMindTwoHappensArtistNextHoursChanceOpinionMinutesProduceMaterialsHappeningsInevitableTwo ThingsEmpoweringSecondsTechnologicalMusic BusinessOwn BusinessUnstoppableMind Your Own BusinessTechnological Change
Author:Pauley Perrette
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