Introduction
The United States of America is not only one of the mega nations of the world but it is technologically the most powerful country the world has ever known. America is blessed with land, man power, diverse climate, inland waterways, huge coastline and surfeit of natural resources. The people of America has made well use of it and extracted the cream of these blessings to produce energy and speedy transport; all of which led to the building up of capital that has rapidly industrialized the country to push it to the top of the ladder. The greatest progress took place from the close of the 18th century to the start of the 20th century. During this time America’s primitive agricultural economy was transformed to make it the prime industrial super power in the world. Over a third of the world’s industrial output is produced in America. The colonies in America became independent in 1781 just at a time when industrial change was beginning to take off. Technological advances during the civil war accelerated the process of improvement in transport and infrastructure. The close of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century witnessed American industrial production exceed Europe; this facilitated its assertion of military might. The Great Depression did cause some hiccups but it did not prevent America from emerging as one of the two super powers at the close of World War II. The government invested heavily in scientific and technological research causing America to surge ahead in space flights, computing as well as biotechnology. This technological advancement has impacted on the economic success of the country and shaped its political system while maintaining its military superiority. America honors merit, encourages entrepreneurs and values self-sufficiency; all these have been imbibed from the pioneering days of technological advances (Park 2008).
Computers
The greatest gift America has made to itself and the world is to usher in the computer age. Truly it has made the world into a global village. Computers are impacting on society in many fields – medicine, military, education, accounts, business and above all exchange of ideas. Computers have made space flight possible. Computer technology has overshadowed all the impact of previous technologies. The computer is ubiquitous – present everywhere from digital watches to VCRs and micro ovens and credit checking. The computer magnifies with an astronomical collection and storing of information. The danger is that a single error can affect literally millions. Computers mean speedy accessibility to enormous numbers of people. It has been termed as an “information superhighway”. It is par excellent in reproducing and distributing. Unfortunately on the negative side it is lacking in accountability. Computers have added to the speed of modern lifestyle. The best example of computers having conquered time and space is the 24 hour running operations of Forex that never shuts down. The name of computers is interwoven with Microsoft Corporation. It develops, produces, licenses and gives support to a swath of software products required for computing devices. Its headquarters are in Redmond, Washington in USA. Its most famous products are Microsoft Windows operating system and Microsoft Office suite. It made its debut in 1975 and dominated the home computer market with MS-DOS (Greenstein 2003).
Cell phones
Now cell phones are taking over the work of computers – one can use it to find directions, confirm departure and arrival timings and make reservations while on the move armed with a cell phone. In the last quarter of 2007 over 2.1 million Americans availed of mobile broadband to reach the Internet. It has jumped in number of users by 154% from the previous year. The mobile Internet operates through cellular telephone networks. Mobile technology has been running at a fantastic pace rushing through from car phones to iPhones. These exciting technological advances will make not only communication but business deals easier. Wi-Fi phones have brought on a revolution with the cell phones operating on carrier basis and yet are connected to the house or office Wi-Fi networks. This frees the user from counting minutes while using it. Some phones are totally free from the traditional carrier and operate on Wi-Fi VoIP networks. The technology is making advances towards an all-in-one portable device that will meet communication as well as entertainment requirements. Technology will now bond together the Internet, accelerometers and GPS. For instance when a traveler enters a new city the phone is pointed towards a building to avail of all the details from its history to details of visiting hours. All this is poised to happen very soon. Right now at a fraction of the cost multiple services will be available on the cell phone (Park 2008).
NASA
The glory of USA is linked with NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This agency of the government of USA is in charge of the civilian space programme of the country. NASA was set up by the National Aeronautics and Space Act (29th July 1958). It started functioning from 1st October. Since then NASA has been leading the country in space explorations. In this connection mention may be made of Apollo missions to the Moon, the space station Skylab and recently the Space Shuttle. It is developing new launch vehicles and supporting International Space Station. Unfortunately due to the Great Recession President Obama has kept on hold further missions to the Moon. Apart from space plans NASA also is also in charge of civilian and military research on a long-term basis. NASA is concentrating on understanding the Earth in a better way through Earth Observing Systems Heliophysics Research Program. Bodies of the Solar System are being explored through research in astrophysics. NASA is always sharing its findings with various organizations at the national and international levels as gleaned from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Park 2008).
US army
Science and its advancement in technology have made the American army peerless in the world today since end of the Cold War. For over a hundred years since the fall of Rome the very existence of Western Europe was at stake. But by the close of the 15th century the European powers emerged to grapple within themselves for the supremacy of the seas. Improved technology in navigation and cartography gave the winning countries the edge over others. Success or tragic and often disastrous failure depended on finding out the location on the surface of the earth. The Renaissance gave birth to an empirical view of knowledge. This led to scientific advantages that fueled a thirst for finding out far off lands. The greatest demand was for geographical knowledge. Ptolemy’s methods were resurrected after more than twelve hundred years to rediscover the earth. The celestial bodies became guiding stars. Globes began to emerge. Mercator’s projection became prevalent. More or less the paradigms and methods remained the same until during the middle of the 20th century there was an explosive change. In 1964 the USA Navy introduced the satellite system (Transit) – the predecessor of the global positioning system (GPS) of today. Using Doppler shift methods Transit used satellites to pinpoint positions of ships and submarines. Soon work began on another sophisticated system – Timation. But it was not sufficient for the air force. The latter started off on its advancements. But coordination was brought about with the setting up of NAVSEG of Navigation Satellite Executive Group by the Department of Defense. GPS has had a tremendous impact beyond the confines of military – civil aviation, commercial maritime operations, agriculture, mining operations, environment management etc (Xu 2008).
Advantages and disadvantages
Technology has made brought home a wealth of knowledge – all at the click of a mouse. The world has truly become a global village. It has made communication and acquirement of knowledge cheap – something never dreamt of before. As such the world is gaining from it; no longer is knowledge the exclusive prerogative of the lucky few. It is impacting on all fields of life from agriculture to science and technology. Cultural contact has increased leading to a lowering of bigotry and increase in understanding and appreciation of different cultures. On the negative side it is leading to unemployment, reduced privacy and a clutch of new diseases caused by the sedentary lifestyle triggered off by the new age of science and technology (Greenstein 2003).
Conclusion
There are always two sides to a coin and so too with technology there is the positive and negative side. A knife can be used to chop the vegetables for cooking but again it can kill and maim. It depends on the user. Thus side by side with advancement in technology the focus should also be on man-making – making better humans that run the show.
References
Greenstein, S. (2003). Invisible hands and visible advisors: An economic interpretation of standardization. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 43(8), 538-549.
Park, Y. (2008). Teaching and Learning Guide for: Social Implications of Mobile Telephony: The Rise of Personal Communication Society. Sociology Compass 2(6), 2030-2040.
Xu, C. (2008). Social tagging in China and the USA: A comparative study. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 45(1), 1-9.