Technological progress is vital to our economy’s growth. Over the years, researchers, sociologists and anthropologists have attempted to find ways to measure progress in technology. Gerhard Lenski Leslie White Alvin Toffler have all made important theories. The development of technology is vital to the economy, and has a direct impact on raising living standards around the world. They believe that technology is advancing our economy through information, energy control, and future shock.
Gerhard Lenski lived until 2015 and was 90. He was born in 1925. He was an expert in sociology and taught at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill for most of his life. Lenski thought that information was the key to progress in human life. Lenski outlines four stages in technological advancement: food safety, horticulture (or gardening), agriculture (or farming), and production. Lenski’s four stages of technological advancement are: food security, horticulture, agriculture and production. A surplus of food leads to the third stage, where social orders are introduced. A society that has organized agriculture will have social classes, inequality, and complex divisions of labor, thanks to the advances in art and architecture, engineering, and other fields. Lenski’s final stage in his technological perspective begins when food-based economy is replaced by production. The Industrial Revolution and its factories and machines follow. Lenski believes the more human beings understand Earth’s resource usage, the faster they will advance in their society.
Leslie White was a British anthropologist. She died in 1975. White believed the key is energy control, whereas Lenski was of the opinion that it’s information. White claims that human progress is not divided into four phases, but five. In the first stage, energy is used to generate human muscle power. In phase 2, energy comes from domesticated creatures. We use livestock as food, for hunting, for transportation and even for warfare. The agricultural revolution is the next stage, and it’s just an extension of what came before. In phase four, energy and electricity are generated from Earth’s renewable resources, including coal, natural gas and oil. This phase is similar the Industrial Revolution of Lenski, which was discussed in stage four. White’s fourth phase states that human beings can gain power through nuclear energy. Lenski, on the other hand, believed that nuclear technology was dangerous. Leslie White has a famous formula that is often used: P = P*E. P stands for the final calculation. White believed that the culture of a country changes over time, as efficiency and energy are measured. White equated cultural progress with energy and efficiency, while Lenski compared it to knowledge and information.
Alvin Toffler was the last of all theorists to be compared. Born in 1928, he died in 2016. He worked as a futurist, journalist, and social critic. Toffler became famous for the term, future-shock, which he used to describe “too many changes happening in too little time”. Toffler believed our society was overloaded with information that is causing most social issues today. Toffler recognized that human and technology progress can be divided into three distinct stages: the industrial, postindustrial, and agrarian. The first is the development of agriculture within a social movement. The Industrial Revolution, with steam engines and machine tools, is the next step. The three perspectives all agree that the industrial age is a part of technological progress. The final stage consists of robotics, automated manufacturing and computers. This stage has seen an increase in brainwork and a decrease in manual labor.
As a result, technological advancements are associated with economic growth. Lenski was of the opinion that information is the key to human advancement. The more people understand how Earth’s resources are used, the better they can progress in society. White believed in the importance of controlling energy to the cultural purpose. He also believed that culture changes as energy efficiency and work measurement increases. Toffler believed the most common social issues in today’s society are caused by an overwhelming amount of data. The three theories all agree that technological progress is a part of an industrial age. The way technology progresses will have a profound impact on the world we live in.
