Science and Civilization

Introduction

Nanotechnology is frequently identified as one of several powerful “emerging technologies,” a category that is generally taken to also include biotechnology, robotics, information and communication technologies (“ICT,” a category that includes equipment as well as services such as social networking and virtual reality offerings), and applied cognitive science, as well as the many hybrid technologies that arise from integration of these core technologies. Understanding the implications of these technologies is important in part because of the increasingly powerful role they play in helping to structure human institutions and behaviors, as well as regional and global natural systems. It is thus noteworthy that there are currently not just one or two core technologies undergoing rapid evolution, but five. Moreover, each of these technologies are transformative not only in themselves, but because they are also integrating with each other to produce unpredictable change across the technological frontier as a whole. It remains a fundamental question; however, as to how effective management of emerging technologies can be achieved in a multicultural world, where particular ethical concerns about a technology are not universally shared. This paper discusses disruptive technology in a holistic context.

Discussion

The term disruptive technology indicates technologies that cause imbalances and disruptions in the logic of production of a product or the conception and application of a service. The semantic space of this expression denotes technologies that cause an inflexion or interruption in the continuity of traditional production factors. In terms of innovation and business, this notion sparks the argument that, more than price reductions; it is new ideas that drive entrepreneurial logic and competitive companies. In a society based on knowledge it is vital in research agendas to understand the dynamics and connections between technological innovation and the strong changes in the manufacturing and service industries. In a given innovation context, disruptive technologies press for changes in the way objects are made and sold. They can provide the same services of a prior technology with lower costs and greater applicability, or surpass, in terms of functionality, effectiveness, and economic impact, an entire segment of the market (Invernizzi & Guillermo, Pp. 67-89).

The Ways of Innovation and Technological Paths:

After the second half of the 20th century, science and technology experienced an accelerated growth pace. Techno-science became an important component in promoting wealth. The economic, social, and environmental implications of this acceleration are inseparable from development and, deriving from analyses made by the business administration sector, their analytical use is inseparable from certain technologies and innovations. A set of technologies—atomic/nuclear, semiconductors, communications, computers and software, biotechnologies, and nanotechnologies, for example—spreads beyond the internal logic of scientific and technological research because it affects the production system and the social and subjective processes of selection of goods and services. Technological products hold great market value and become strategic in the commercial competition between companies and/or states as they impose a number of conditions—scientific, technical, legal (patents), and the training of highly qualified human resources—to their know-how process. Technological goods are becoming common in the daily ...