Assalamualaikum and a very good morning to Mr. Chairman, my beloved students, ladies and gentlemen.

Today, Im going to give a speech about Technology in Our Life. Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me start this speech with the definition of technology. Technology is a word with origins in the Greek word technologia, techne "craft" and logia "saying." It is a broad term dealing with the use and knowledge of humanity's tools and crafts. By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a level of technological mastery sufficient to leave the surface of the planet for the first time and explore space. In this use, technology is the current state of our knowledge of how to combine resources to produce desired products, to solve problems, fulfill needs, or satisfy wants. Technology in this sense includes technical methods, skills, processes, techniques, tools and raw materials (for example, in such uses as computer technology, construction technology, or medical technology). Ladies and Gentlemen, The history of technology is at least as old as humanity. Some primitive forms of tools have been discovered with almost every find of ancient human remains dating from the time of homo habilis. Nevertheless, other animals have been found to use tools and to learn to use and refine tools so it is incorrect to distinguish humans as the only tool using or tool marking animal. The history of technology follows a progression from simple tools and simple (mostly human) energy sources to complex high-technology tools and energy sources. The earliest technologies converted readily occurring natural resources (such as rock, wood and other vegetation, bone and other animal byproducts) into simple tools. Processes such as carving, chipping, scraping, rolling (the wheel), and sun-baking are simple means for the conversion of raw materials into usable products. Anthropologists have uncovered many early human habitations and tools made from natural resources. Birds and other animals often build elaborate nests and some simple tools out of various materials. We normally don't consider them to be performing a technological feat,

primarily because such behavior is largely instinctive. There is some evidence of occasional cultural transference, especially among the other, nonhuman primates. Nevertheless, there is now considerable evidence of such simple technology among animals other than humans. Ladies and Gentlemen, The use, and then mastery, of fire was a turning point in the technological evolution of humankind, affording a simple energy source with many profound uses. Perhaps the first use of fire beyond providing heat was the preparation of food. This enabled a significant increase in the vegetable and animal sources of food, while greatly reducing perishability. Meanwhile, humans were learning to harness other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the sailboat. The earliest record of a ship under sail is shown on an Egyptian pot dating back to 3200 BCE. From prehistoric times, Egyptians probably used "the power of the Nile" annual floods to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely built irrigation channels and 'catch' basins. Similarly, the early peoples of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, learned to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for much the same purposes. But more extensive use of wind and water (and even human) power required another invention. It is still a mystery as to who invented the wheel and when and why it was invented. According to some archaeologists, it was probably originally invented about 8000 B.C. The wheel was almost certainly independently invented in Mesopotamia - present-day Iraq. Estimates on when this may have occurred range from 5500 to 3000 B.C., with most guesses closer to a 4000 B.C. date. The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about 3000 B.C., though for all anyone knows, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made. But there is also evidence from the same period of time that wheels were used for the production of pottery. (Note that the original potter's wheel was probably not a wheel - but rather an irregularly shaped slab of flat wood with a small hollowed or pierced area near the center

and mounted on a peg driven into the earth. It would have been rotated by repeated tugs by the potter or his assistant.) More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia. The invention of the wheel revolutionized activities as disparate as transportation, war, and the production of pottery (for which it may have been first used). It didn't take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads and fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery. But it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels and windmills and even treadmills) that revolutionized the application of nonhuman power sources. Ladies and Gentlemen, The use of technology has a great many effects; these may be separated into intended effects and unintended effects. Unintended effects are usually also unanticipated, and often unknown before the arrival of a new technology. Nevertheless, they are often as important as the intended effect. The most subtle side effects of technology are often sociological. They are subtle because the side effects may go unnoticed unless carefully observed and studied. These may involve gradually occurring changes in the behavior of individuals, groups, institutions, and even entire societies. Ladies and Gentlemen, Technology, throughout history, has allowed people to complete more tasks in less time and with less energy. Many herald this as a way of making life easier. However, work has continued to be proportional to the amount of energy expended, rather than the quantitative amount of information or material processed. Technology has had profound effects on lifestyle throughout human history, and as the rate of progress increases, society must deal with both the good and bad implications. Most modern technological processes produce unwanted byproducts in addition to the desired products, which are known as industrial waste and pollution. While most material waste is re-used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social

and political systems establish different balances between the value they place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society, because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as clean air and water. Ladies and Gentlemen, The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal, ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.) Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste. Ladies and Gentlemen, In conclusion, the most important contribution of technology is making life of common people much easier and helping them achieve what was previously not possible. Thank you.