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You are of course technically correct, but it’s pretty well established at this point in time that the “tech sector” refers to IT and Internet companies. Taken

by orev 7y ago

You are of course technically correct, but it’s pretty well established at this point in time that the “tech sector” refers to IT and Internet companies. Taken to the extreme, you can technically call pretty much all human endeavors “technology”, so you need to follow current conventions in order to have a productive discussion.

erikpukinskis 7y ago
Words often go through phases where they stop meaning what they mean to groups of people. Sometimes large groups. “Feminism” is the classic example in my head. You don’t have to bend to that. People often try to destroy words for political reasons, but in then end, I think, the words often stand resilient. Our languages are really impressive structures that define real spaces. There is power to learning them and knowing how to use them well. That power does diminish when words are abused, but it doesn’t disappear. Personally, I am happy to have words be refined, but when people try to redefine them to the point where they are useless... I listen, and parse their words as intended, but I keep using those words correctly with others.
OldGuyInTheClub 7y ago
Perhaps I should have considered that this forum would use your definition. I do believe that technology is much broader than IT and internet. The author didn't refer to the tech sector, by the way.
stretchwithme 7y ago
I prefer to call all human inventions technology, because even if a technology is old, it's still serving its purpose. Even if we're taking it for granted. Plumbing put us all out of the water carrying business. But without it, daily life would be very, very different. Google's definition of technology is interesting. - the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. - machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. I guess technology is the process of making technology. Pipes are a technology, but most of technology is over. But it also sounds like technology when a plumber is applying his knowledge of metal and fire and gravity to solve a new problem.
dredmorbius 7y ago
I've been going through a now-decade-long rethink on this topic. It's pretty clear that there are 1) fields and 2) levels of technology. A decent encyclopaedia or technical school course catalogue will lay out most of the basics (library classification systems are another good option), and models vary. I've been devising my own based on mechanisms rather than application areas. The MIT course catalogue itself is a fascinating artefact. The levels of technology also matter: there's cutting-edge, high, middle, low, and primitive. Examples such as "Low Tech Magazine" and the "Primitive Technology" YouTube channel are excellent opportunities for enlightenment (and also surprisingly and reassuringly popular). The domain most at HN are familiar with is the higher end of information technology, itself a very narrow subset, though one which touches on many others through its interactions with communications, media, control, monitoring, surveillance, and manipulation.

by orev 7y ago

erikpukinskis 7y ago

Words often go through phases where they stop meaning what they mean to groups of people. Sometimes large groups. “Feminism” is the classic example in my head. You don’t have to bend to that. People often try to destroy words for political reasons, but in then end, I think, the words often stand resilient. Our languages are really impressive structures that define real spaces. There is power to learning them and knowing how to use them well. That power does diminish when words are abused, but it doesn’t disappear. Personally, I am happy to have words be refined, but when people try to redefine them to the point where they are useless... I listen, and parse their words as intended, but I keep using those words correctly with others.

OldGuyInTheClub 7y ago

Perhaps I should have considered that this forum would use your definition. I do believe that technology is much broader than IT and internet. The author didn't refer to the tech sector, by the way.

stretchwithme 7y ago

I prefer to call all human inventions technology, because even if a technology is old, it's still serving its purpose. Even if we're taking it for granted. Plumbing put us all out of the water carrying business. But without it, daily life would be very, very different. Google's definition of technology is interesting. - the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. - machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge. I guess technology is the process of making technology. Pipes are a technology, but most of technology is over. But it also sounds like technology when a plumber is applying his knowledge of metal and fire and gravity to solve a new problem.

dredmorbius 7y ago

I've been going through a now-decade-long rethink on this topic. It's pretty clear that there are 1) fields and 2) levels of technology. A decent encyclopaedia or technical school course catalogue will lay out most of the basics (library classification systems are another good option), and models vary. I've been devising my own based on mechanisms rather than application areas. The MIT course catalogue itself is a fascinating artefact. The levels of technology also matter: there's cutting-edge, high, middle, low, and primitive. Examples such as "Low Tech Magazine" and the "Primitive Technology" YouTube channel are excellent opportunities for enlightenment (and also surprisingly and reassuringly popular). The domain most at HN are familiar with is the higher end of information technology, itself a very narrow subset, though one which touches on many others through its interactions with communications, media, control, monitoring, surveillance, and manipulation.