Addressing the European technology gap

Man’s technological ascent began in earnest in what is known as the Neolithic period (“New stone age”). The invention of polished stone axes was a major advance because it allowed forest clearance on a large scale to create farms. Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of Homo sapiens approximately 200,000 years ago.

  • Basic economic relations are changing as new technologies and markets emerge.
  • Technology’s central role in our lives has drawn concerns and backlash.
  • Moreover, these technologies have become so complex that entire fields have developed to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science; and other fields have become more complex, such as construction, transportation, and architecture.
  • Europe is home to 43 percent of the world’s top 100 universities for life sciences, according to The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021; the United States has 34 percent.

The use of tools by early humans was partly a process of discovery, partly of evolution. Early humans evolved from a race of foraging hominids which were already bipedal, with a brain mass approximately one third that of modern humans. Tool use remained relatively unchanged for most of early human history, but approximately 50,000 years ago, a complex set of behaviors and tool use emerged, believed by many archaeologists to be connected to the emergence of fully-modern language. By the mid-twentieth century, humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. Whether Internet technology is “making us stupid” is widely debated. Some argue the Internet is reprogramming our brains for the worse, as seen by diminishing IQ scores, and that new technologies and platforms like the Internet are harming attention spams, the ability to concentrate, and perform simple tasks.

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The average was skewed upwards by patents related to the pharmaceutical industry, chemistry, and electronics. A 2021 analysis shows that patents that are based on scientific discoveries are on average 26% more valuable than equivalent non-science-based patents. Existential risk research analyzes risks that could lead to human extinction or civilizational collapse, and looks for ways to build resilience against them. He invites policymakers to question the assumptions that technological progress is always beneficial, that scientific openness is always preferable, or that they can afford to wait until a dangerous technology has been invented before they prepare mitigations. Various philosophers, political theorists, intellectuals, ethicists, and activists have published critiques of technology’s role in society.

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

In automotive, US manufacturers account for close to 70 percent of all kilometers made by level 4 fully autonomous vehicles. The fact that Europe did not keep pace with the United States in the first technology wave centered on the internet and software now means that Europe is in a weakened position in transversal technologies across sectors. Our analysis looks at ten such transversal technologies on which Europe’s future performance and prosperity hinge. Given seismic events within its own continent, a robust Europe is arguably needed more than ever.

Technology makes us think of the very complex, but energy doesn’t have to be complex. The new cars will be energy efficient, environmentally friendly and technologically advanced. Each student should be able to support the delivery, use, and management of information systems within an information systems environment.