Technology Unraveled

By Ashwini Tharval

So here we are: The age of mapped human genomes, no-rub contact lens solutions, and online newsletters—and most of us still don’t know how to remove that bread crumb tray from our toasters (if you have grasped it, please email me). Well, let’s just pretend we don’t really need all that superfluous information; after all, we can always buy a new toaster, can’t we?

Techno-logy

The word "technology" comes from the Greek words tekhne—skill, art, craft, or trade; and logy—science, study. Tekhne is derived from the Indo-European/Sanskrit root tek meaning shape or make. The word "architect" is also derived from the same root (Greek tekton meaning carpenter or builder). Thus, "technology" is the study of building, creating, or making. (This definition is taken from Take Our Word For It, an excellent site for word-lovers.)

So, as we suspected all along, we’re just glorified carpenters!

The Small, the Large, and the Great

Have you noticed how certain things get smaller and smaller while others keep getting bigger? Steve Jobs unveiled the new iMac some time back and we oohed and aahed over how we can now match that tiny lamp on our desk. But still we crave monster tires for our SUVs. So what if we need ladders to climb in? To say nothing about how the ratio of accessories grows inversely to the size of the appliance. Consider that the newest PDAs (meant to lighten your load) come with headphones, a charger, a synchronization cradle, a genuine leather cover, a stylus that doubles as a pen, modems, and optional companion software for everything under the sun. You need a suitcase with wheels just to carry all this around.

What else keeps getting bigger? Scandals and controversies. From chads to shredded documents, it just keeps growing. Take, for example, the one about "Pocket PC." Who owns the name, Microsoft or one Mr. Ken B. from San Francisco? He developed a video game (a poker chip in a tiny wooden crate) called Pocket PC in 1985. Meanwhile, Microsoft developed a new hand-held personal computer. Mr. B. is, of course, suing Microsoft for the brand name. (Read about this in the SF Chronicle.)

It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane...NO...it’s Moxi

Couch potatoes of the world, celebrate! The newly introduced Moxi Media Center does it all. It lets you watch television (pause it, record it, rewind it), listen to music (when you are not downloading songs to fill up the 80 GB storage space), play your DVDs, surf the Internet, and—get this—all at the same time! Moxi offers wireless home networking through which you and your family can do any of the above, in any room, on any TV or PC. Finally, an end to the remote-mania. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Moxi will soon let you make Internet-based phone calls too. Well, that about covers everything essential to life, doesn’t it? And here I thought cable modem was the best thing since sliced bread.

The End

So, it seems, we can never know enough. New stuff happens and by the time we become familiar with it, it’s stale. But we can’t even gloat in the self-knowledge of mastering anything, be it old or new. We still don’t know enough about the whole-other-stuff-which-came-before-the-new-stuff-which-is-now-old-stuff. Figure that out while I go stick my head in the toaster.

The Devil Mountain Views -- Mar/Apr 2002
(ebstc.org/newsletter/front.html)
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