The 5 differences between science and technology

Human beings are paradoxical. On the one hand, our fragility and special needs make us seem ill-adapted to living on planet Earth. On the other hand, we are one of the most evolutionarily successful mammalian species; our population is in the billions and we have colonized every continent.

The fact that humanity is prosperous in number of inhabitants is fundamentally due to the fact that we have developed a unique capacity to use the potential of the environment and modify it so that it adjusts to our needs and strategic purposes.

In this article we will distinguish the two phenomena that have made this possible: we will see the differences between science and technology, which allow us to better understand nature and use this knowledge for practical purposes inside and outside the laboratories.

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The main differences between science and technology

Next we will see the aspects that allow us to distinguish between technology and science, but keep in mind that, in a way, there are areas of human activity in which both go hand in hand and in which the difference only occurs in a theoretical sense.

1. One allows to know, the other to modify

Science is a way of generate knowledge about nature, regardless of whether this information is applied to practice or not.

Technology, on the other hand, consists of a process of improvement based on the manipulation of nature. That means that the use of technology normally only contributes knowledge about itself, not about what exists independently of human action.

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2. Technology can be easily tested

It is easy to know if the technological development processes end up fulfilling their objectives or not, since they point to specific needs: For example, developing a car capable of reaching a certain speed for a certain time while consuming less fuel than its analogs. Through objective measurements it is possible to know if it has hit the target.

As regards science, on the other hand, there is a great ambiguity about whether a scientific project has met expectations. The reason for this is that science never fully fulfills its objectives, since all the explanations of reality it provides are provisional, not definitive.

3. Science is relatively young, technology is old

Although it is popularly assumed that technology has to do with computers and the latest electronic and biomedical advances in general, the truth is that the use of technology has been around for thousands of years. For example, the use of fire for heating or cooking is considered an example of technology, and is believes that it was something that even other species of the genus Homo that existed long before U.S.

Science, on the other hand, emerged after the end of the Middle Ages, although there were interesting precedents before that historical point.

4. Technology seeks efficiency, science does not

The goals of science go far beyond the most efficient use of resources. That is why many times explanations of reality are proposed that totally conflict with what has been previously established and that usually cause problems in an intellectual sense, provided it is consistently pointed out that the theories accepted so far are wrong or wrong. insufficient.

In technology, on the other hand, what does not present clear practical advantages tends to be displaced for other projects.

5. One part of designs, the other part of theories

In the world of technology, which basically relies on engineering, we work from designs. In science, on the other hand, be part of theories and theoretical models, which in themselves are not designs but relationships between ideas that do not even have to be expressed mathematically.

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Their relationship in engineering

As we have said, in many professional fields science and technology go hand in hand. Engineering, although not strictly speaking science, are based on scientific research to find new routes to efficiency. Science, in turn, can test theories thanks to the existence of certain technological options that make it possible to contrast expectations with reality.

On the other hand, it should be noted that although the existence of technology is prior to that of science, currently the former depends on the latter, since in practice science has proven to be a much more reliable way of creating knowledge than its alternatives when it comes to generating useful information for engineering. Once the scientific revolution appeared, it no longer made sense to look back when it came to the creation of new tools and technical proposals to improve the quality of life, to say the least mode.