TOK Essay-Technology

In this TOK essay I will present an analysis of the next statement: ‘’Technology both enables us to produce knowledge and limits the knowledge that is produced. Discuss the reference to two areas of knowledge’’, making reference to two areas of knowledge, these areas will be Biology and Chemistry. The reason because I choose these two areas is because they provide us clear and precise examples that help me to explain my point of view about human knowledge and technology. In the Biology area I will use as an example, the creation of the microscope and how it contributed in many aspects to Biology. On the other hand, in History I will use different examples of creations and discoveries that contributed to this area.

It is clear that technology enables us to produce knowledge, and it is known that it has been a great help to every science. As it passes from generation to generation, people are becoming smarter, that’s how we get to the point that we can analyze and observe our intellectual progress. Thanks to this intellectual progress over the years, we can move forward technologically and then keep clarifying doubts and mysteries about our world, like we just said the creation of the microscope has been one of the most important creations and contributions to the science. ‘’In 1590 the forerunner to the modern microscope was invented. Two Dutch spectacle makers, Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans found that the proper combination of lenses in a tube, made objects appear greatly enlarged’’ (Medical-Discovery-News), this important contribution to science creation allowed to observe things and beings completely unknown and unexplainable at that time. By increasing the ability of human vision to the unimaginable, came new ideas, such as the establishment of one of the basic principal theories in Biology: the Cell Theory. ‘’Credit for the formulation of this theory is given to german scientists Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, and Rudolph Virchow, who establish that all living things are composed of cells’’ (Bailey). Over the years the microscope has evolved, improving its focus and the ability to see even smaller particles. That is why we can say that in the area of knowledge of Biology, technology has generated knowledge.

Our second example is represented in the History area. Throughout the years technology has made the everyday life becomes easier, with different creations and discoveries in technology that contributed to our progress in knowledge. There are a lot of evidences that prove human intellectual progress has been evolving over the pass of years. At the beginning of the human existence, primitives’ humans build their weapons and tools by carving stones. One of the most important artifacts of primitive man is the existence of stone tools at the period called Paleolithic, approximately 2 millions of years ago (Paleodirect). At the introduction of the Metal Age, 1200-500 years B.C., technology

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