In the pre-historic times, people’s lives were very simple – people hunted for food and made primitive tools from stones and simple clothes to protect them from the cold. The only tool which they had was the human hand. People wanted to make their lives easier and more comfortable and so they invented the wheel. They also built windmills to use the wind energy. Important discoveries and inventions came in 15th and 16th centuries – new continents /America, Asia, Africa/ were discovered and sciences such as astronomy, philosophy, medicine and biology were developed. At that time also the printing press was invented in Germany by a man called Gutenberg.
Many important inventions came in the18th and 19th century– it was the time of the Industrial Revolution:
- the steam engine
=> James Watt
- the electric light bulb => T. A. Edison
- the electric motor => Michael Faraday
- the 1st petrol driven car
=> G. Daimler, K. Benz
- the electricity
Thanks to these
inventions, large factories were built and everything started to be produced by machines => the mass production started and many
goods became cheaper and more people could buy them. The technologies also improved and new and cheaper materials were used:
-
rubber, glass, leather, paper, plastics,
synthetic materials
Later, in the 20th century, these inventions came to existence:
- the airplane
- the computer
- the mobile phone
- the Internet, the
TV
- the videophone
- the credit cards
- the phone cards
- pesticides– postreky proti hmyzu
- fertilizers– hnojivá
- genetically modified
food– geneticky modifikované potraviny
In the 20th century, scientists made a lot of medical research that
helps the doctors to save human lives and to cure many illnesses – for example:
- the laser, new
drugs and vaccines– penicillin, vitamin C, X-ray, test-tube babies
Today we
cannot imagine our lives without technology. We use it every day at home, at work, at school and in many other parts of our lives. They are very
important to us. There are many inventions that we use every day.
For example at home we use these inventions:
- electric appliances, a fridge, a washing machine ,a computer /PC/, a TV,
an electric kettle, a telephone, a mobile phone, an answering machine,
a dishwasher , a plug, a socket, a microwave oven, a vacuum cleaner /a
hover/
At work we can use:
- a telephone, a fax machine,
a computer, a laptop /a notebook/, a car...
The development of science and technology brought to people many advantages but also many disadvantages.
Advantages:
- it made our lives easier and more comfortable
- sometimes science can
help to make a human life longer – for example new medicine /penicillin/ and medical technology was developed /X-ray/ => many people can be
cured
- science and technology help us to learn new information about our life, the life of animals, our world and the space – people can
travel to space, search the oceans and the jungle because we have the technology for it – we can measure, weigh very precisely
- science and
technology helps us to overcome the distance - for example the telephone – we can talk to and see people who are far away from us, even on the other
side of the world
- it helps us to make transactions easier – we use credit cards, phone cards…
- it can help us to protect our
environment – to find some alternative sources of energy – for example the wind power, the solar
power…
Disadvantages:
- the science has brought some ethical problems – for example the cloning of animals and
people – some people think that it is right, some people think it is wrong
- science and technology can endanger people – we can be
destroyed by the new inventions – ballistic missiles, laser and nuclear weapons, H-bomb
- pollution of the environment – on the one hand
the science can help us to protect it, on the other hand, we can destroy it by fertilizers, pesticides…
- we spend less time talking to our
family and friends – we prefer sending messages, using mobiles and we communicate with computer, not with real people.
- we should use
the technology wisely so that we can improve our lives and don’t destroy it.