Technology, Civilization and Culture - ARTS2306

Subject Area: History and Philosophy of Science
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: Environmental Studies; Media, Culture and Technology

Examines the history of technology from the Renaissance, through the Enlightenment and the period of industrialization, with particular emphasis on energy, transport and communications technologies and their inter-relations. Guiding themes will include: the environmental, economic and political causes of technological change; the cultural (including scientific) relations of technology; the development of technological systems; technology in everyday life. In energy history the transitions, and continuities, between the eras of wood, wind and water, of coal, iron and steam, and of oil, plastics and electricity will be examined. In transport, horses, ships, railways and automobiles will be studied as ways of getting around. The advent of printing, the press, telegraphy and telephony, radio and television, satellite communication, the computer and the internet will be considered as both manifestations and means of technological change. Interrelations between these technological paradigms and lived experience will be explored.