How The Human Situation Shapes Technology

Technology is almost as old as man himself. From the very beginning, man has been looking for ways to improve his quality of life. We may call it primitive technology, but it advanced to a more complex state from the creation of tools made of wood and later of iron to the structural and architectural wonders of the ancient Egyptians and Aztecs.

It goes without saying that Technology is for man and man is not for technology. So, human needs and desires are responsible for the increasing advancement of technology in our day. Many problems of the human situation are being solved by enterprising young men and women.

Facebook, for instance, arose out of the desire to save and share pictures as precious moments in time. Storing hard copies of pictures has its challenges. Moisture, dust and pests could ruin those pictures and result in a loss of decades-old memories. For instance, I lost pictures of my childhood to mold and just thinking about it gives me pain. I wish I had been able to store them in the cloud. Sadly, that technology was not available at the time.

Another example is Zenvus by Fasmicro Group. After noticing the problem of low agricultural yield, the team invented a way to monitor, and predict yield so as to increase the predictability of commercial farming, and make it easier to make a profit.

Yet another example involves the way search engine optimization has evolved. SEO used to be about putting as many keywords as reasonably possible in any online content so that the bots can pick it up. But now it is more about creating content that is meant for easy human consumption and that adds to the body of knowledge available online. This is where engaging storytelling wins. Brands that will dominate the online space and grow will be ones that take this into consideration and consult experts to do this for them.

What is your current situation? Chances are it is already shaping a technological solution.