Which came first, Science or Technology?

Question

I know you may have heard about this but I've just been faced with this question and I need an answer that really makes sense. My lecturer just told us that the wheel was invented before the actual science-thinking of the wheel, hence technology came first. My mind tells me this reasoning is NOT right but, I cannot find a way to prove it wrong somehow. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you're looking for a way to "correct" your lecturer .. good luck! Because the point is historically correct.

Perhaps the confusion is simply one of definition, or of trying to push the point to far.

Think of it this way -- the beginnings of technology were more about simple "trial and error" or basic observations about what seems to work.

Now for more ADVANCED technology this is not enough -- you need to have a growing understanding of how and why things work. This is where scientific research (and the scientific method) comes into play.

But that is not the part your lecturer was referring to.

In fact, strictly speaking what WE think of as science -- involving the "scientific method" of controlled experiments and the ability to replicate results-- is relatively recent in world history... rooted in the more systematic methods of study that grew up in the medieval universities (12th century on). Thus a great many inventions were created before such a careful, methodology was developed.

(Note too that the "technology" that preceded "science" was NOT without some basic understanding of "HOW things work" in a practical sense.)

Answer 2

I would say science, as science allows a person to develop a hypothesis about how something works or should work. Without the initial hypothesis one is not able move towards a particular technological advancement.

Answer 3

Science, since it was here before we were, and we are responsible for technology. Science exists weather we are here to appreciate it or not.