Which came first: Science or Technology?

I think Science come first, technology is application of science.

If someone apply Science without knowing about it, this doesn't mean that science is not there.

In old age Science was there, but not documented or science was not formalized. Later on, when man formalized science, they verified a particular development by applying different science theory.

I think science came first.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It is an ancient dilemma going back to the times of Aristotle and Plutarch

The similar questions have been already asked in RG forum, e.g

In my opinion that now they are linked to each other.

"In software engineering, a circular dependency is a relation between two or more modules which either directly or indirectly depend on each other to function properly. " see, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_dependency

It depends on how you define science and technology. The first steam engine was built by Savery in 1698 and the first two laws of thermodynamics didn’t appear for another 150 years. Only modern science precedes technology.

I think technology came first, application of technology results to science.

This is a difficult question. I asked a question about a month ago. You may be interested in it too:

Your opinion is invited.

For this question, when human being wanted to make a tool, he/she must had some idea in mind--something related to science; when he/she made/found a tool (shaped stone, for example), he/she had technology. So, I'd say, science and technology are twin-brothers.

I mean they were born at the same time at the dawn of human civilization.

Science and technology came together, hand in hand.

In order to answer this question, what appeared in the history of the development of human civilization, in old age first: science or technology, it is necessary to first define these concepts according to the conditions when they first appeared in antiquity.

From my humble point of view, there is no technology without science. Also, if technology is available, it serves science

Without science no technology, therefore, science is first and then technology.

Yes, Science without technology is lame and Technology without science is dead.

Thanks

Science: The observation of nature came first, and then its practical use i.e. technology.... for human welfare!

In fact, technological progress has come only as a result of the need for more specific tools to achieve certain scientific concepts and theories. Scientific progress has led to more inventions and technological advances. At present, we are benefiting from the availability of technology to increase scientific progress.

Technology came first. Technology is the methods people use to make things such as tools.

Science is a methodology.

In the very beginning, no words or concepts about either technology nor science, but people must have the sense of them. From the primitive practice and scientific activities, technology and science developed. Through a very long time, came the concepts.

Science exists since the day on which universe was created. We may have found the answers to many questions related to science later. But it does not mean that it was not there before. In 1687, Newton presented his theory of universal gravitation and three laws of motion. Does it mean that law of gravity didn't exist before it was demonstrated by Newton?

Science is investigated but technology is created. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Scientists investigate that which already is; engineers create that which has never been.”

Everything can be explained by science. We have not created science, it was there before us and before everything. As per Collins English dictionary, "Technology refers to methods, systems, and devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being used for practical purposes".

So, application of science to develop new devices, systems or methods is called technology.

Science, the body of knowledge came first and technology, the application of science followed.

A baboon uses a twig to remove ants from an anthill in order to eat them, that is technology (basic) or using a stone to crack a mussel or killing a bird with a stone. This is all technology, science came much later.

Science comes before technology

if you mean the laws of nature you are right they exist (the most basic) since, or perhaps earlier, the Big Bang but understanding the mechanisms, laws if you want, behind the the universe, which I call science, came much later.

Science comes first because without science technology can never come to existence . So definitely science came first before technology.

Both science and technology are concepts generated by human beings. They are human cognitions on the natural laws. The laws are always there, but science and technology were developed by human beings at some point of history.

The human cognition to the concepts of science and technology have been interactive to each other since the very beginning. This is why I say science and technology came together.

Science exists since the day on which universe was created. We may have found the answers to many questions related to science later. But it does not mean that it was not there before. In 1687, Newton presented his theory of universal gravitation and three laws of motion. Does it mean that law of gravity didn't exist before it was demonstrated by Newton.

@ Djaafar Zemali

I think we must distinguish the concept of science with the natural laws. Between them there's a matter of human cognition. The laws are always there, whether you reveal it or not, but only those revealed laws are science.

Correct. The Chinese made gunpowder without at that stage understanding the science behind it. It was an accidental discovery, not science. But gunpowder has been used, technically, in many situations. But these days it is possible to develop "better" explosives and to do that you need science because it is otherwise highly unlikely you will succeed without knowing a lot about chemistry/mathematics/science.

i believe that the science come before tech.

Who am I to try rational arguments against believes, that is hopeless

Edward Teller

This is true for today, because science has a history of thousands of years. If we speculate "the science of the beginning", what would it be?

mostly changes takes place in technology. so technology should be first.

Science is investigated but technology is created. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Scientists investigate that which already is; engineers create that which has never been.”

Dear Sanjoy,

"Which came first: Science or Technology? -- You ask,

As you say, science and technology are complementary to each other.

Even so, I would say that, to a great extent, science came first. Sophistcated technology, such as computers, robots, TV, and so forth, are examples of science applied to technology.

Even so, technological problems often give rise to scientific progress. Thus, science allows us to have technology, mainly sophisticated technology, and technology often raises problems that give rise to new scientific research.

Of course, there was a time at whick people had, say, rudimentary forms of technology without understanding the scientific laws or principls behind such forms of technology.

All that said, science and technolgy are deeply intertwined.

Kind regards,

Orlando

We need more clear definitions for both science and technology. Although we have many definitions already, they didn't consider the differences between the two concepts at their early state.

OK this discussion is leading nowhere. I do not know who invented the wheel but it was certainly not science-based. Technical insight not an understanding of the laws of nature. The wheel was there before science unless of course you call being able to see the difference between 4 and 5 fingers science, or knowing that the sun goes up more or less opposite the place where it goes down.

Thank you Dr. @olerndo

science and technolgy are deeply intertwined.

Though provoking query and some wonderful comments. Science and Technology go hand and hand with one another.

Your question is very important

Hi,

as Mr Florian Glodeanu had specified, it depends on your definition of technology.

It should be noted that technology can be defined as the marriage of technology and science, so science preceded technology.

let's try to unravel the word technology we'll have tech: technique and logy science. This comes back to the fact that the human race has developed and demonstrated intelligence, passing through the use of rights and then considered the use of tools to effectively accomplish its daily tasks, until seeking the why of things, which sounds the appearance of science....

and finally to use in symbiosis science and technology, which is the impressive technology that advances human beings

Best regards

Science and technology are so intertwined together that we could be hardly imagine them to be segregated. Methinks, technology has evolved long before the scientific methodology came to the scene. Ancient Egypt, Iranians, Helenic people etc., are well-known ancient societies in creating technologies. Much before them, when humans used stones to provide sufficient food for themselves, the first usage and creation of technology took place. Controlling the fire and the discovery of agriculture can be considered as the examples of existence of technology in their relevant period. Even some primates are able to make and use some instruments as technologies. No one could imagine that both primates and primitive humans are equipped with scientific thinking.

Hear, Hear

Dear Sanjoy Datta,

An interesting question, a bit of a philosophical character. To resolve this issue, one should examine the definition of these concepts in the distant past when they began to appear as nw concepts or earlier, ie when their first uses occurred.

Best wishes

They both have a symbiotic relationship developing side by side. The history of technology has a considerable life span starting from time immemorial to the present ranging from the invention of tools and very simple techniques to more complex genetic engineering and information technology. More notably, science and technology are entwined and they are the two sides of the same coin.

I think modern science supports modern technology, which means that science comes first.

Yes, I agree with the tight mingling of science and technology but I do not agree with the presumed difficulty to separate the two. Science really existed long before technology. All the scientific explanations we give today had existed since creation, only that we did not come to the understanding early enough. Technology builds on science. Take for instance biodegradation and bioremediation. Microorganisms had from time immemorial conducted the science of degradation as a cardinal responsibility to return man and other organic matter to dust. Bioremediation, as a technology for cleaning up polluted sites, only exploits the inherent abilities of microbes to degrade organic pollutants, to decontaminate systems to the satisfaction of man.

Science

IVGC

yes and dry wood had since time immemorial developed the science that if you rubbed sticks together it could start a fire, and flints had a separate scientific fire-starting development scientific philosophy. Moreover wood had, scientifically, planned that giving time it could branch out in developing wheels it is not, what every idiot thinks, that observation and experience, instead of theoretical science, played the major role. You can't be serious.

The first knowledge from the origin of man in the world were closely linked to his activity of material production, were empirical knowledge that did not reach the theoretical conclusions and generalizations, so at that stage it was not possible to talk about scientific practice. Today the existence of an old knowledge-generating activity is recognized, which had: a set of categories, a logic, that systematized and operated with rules and finally, theories that linked and structured the categories, very evident that in any case It was about theoretical thinking, however, as you propose, the first empirical technologies are developed, based on trial and error. Several authors have dabbled in these studies, I suggest you access the following materials.

Thank you I completely agree

I think it is impossible to choose just one, both Science and Technology have the same degree of importance in our life.

Even the technology after Homosapiens was based on experiences and due to ancient scientists later on.

I totally agree with Manmatha Roul and Maurice Ekpenyong answers and reasoning. Both, Science and Technology are interrelated but science development permits technological advancing.

I think a monkey that uses 2 stones to crack a nut uses technology, but not science which came much, much later than using 2 stones.

the dilemma, i think science came first

In terms of what may be called the natural other of things, it seems that science was priori to technology. We can say that technology is applied science. From now onwards, we can say that science and technology became deeply intertwined in the sense that technology raises new problems to be solved by science in a kind of spiral that never ends.