A Comparison of Three Perspectives on the Evolution of Technology

Evolution of Technology
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Different people have different views concerning the evolution of the technology. This is evident from three different perspectives seen from Gerhard who views technological changes in terms of human civilization, Leslie who views it in relation to the energy use and extraction, and finally, Toffler who explains his argument regarding the development and use of machines from the ancient period to current days.
According to Gerhard Lenski, technological development has been brought about by the human civilization evolution. In his explanation, Gerhard claims that the human progress goes hand in hand with the information progress (Nolan, 2004). The more people get to know new things the more they improve in the use of natural resources in the world (Elwell, 2013). Therefore, Gerhard came up with a proposal concerning the technological development on four levels. These are the hunter-gathering, food supply originating from the horticulture, organized agriculture, and finally the industrial revolution in relation to the food-based economy.
The argument made by Leslie White concerning the technological evolution argues that the evolution is based on the harnessing of energy. In Leslie’s description, there are five stages of human development that have been used to explain how technology in relation to human energy evolves (White, 1943). The stages are; the source of human power comes from the muscle, energy provided by the domestic animals are harnessed by the human, surplus energy is provided through the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution results in the harnessing the power from the natural resources like coal, and finally the harnessing of the nuclear energy.

From Alvin Toffler view, technology has evolved in three stages and these are; agrarian, industrial and postindustrial. The agrarian is during the invention of agriculture. The second stage originated in England during the industrial revolution (Fretwell, 2015). The final stage of the evolution began in the 20th century where the development of computers, automated machines, and robots came into being. In this final stage, however, the brain work has increased with a decrease in the manual labor.
In conclusion, the three perspectives are similar in that they explain the evolution of man as the use of energy to get food or income is concerned. They are also concerned with the use of machines. However, they are different in several ways, for instance, the stages of evolution vary from one perspective to another, and also the stages describe different issues altogether. The best argument among the three individuals is the Toffler’s argument concerning the evolution of technology since it explains every stage to the point where technology is currently.
References
Elwell, F. (2013). Lenski’s Evolutionary Theory. Retrieved from http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Essays/Lenski2.htmFretwell, J. (2015). The Keys to Student Engagement in the Future Shock Classroom. Retrieved from https://thebluereview.org/student-engagement-future-shock-classroom/Nolan, P. (2004). Ecological-Evolutionary Theory: A Reanalysis and Reassessment of Lenski’s Theory for the 21st Century. Sociological Theory, 22(2), 328-337. doi: 10.1111/j.0735-2751.2004.00221.x
White, L. (1943). Energy and the Evolution Of Culture. American Anthropologist, 45(3), 335-356. Retrieved from https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/99636/aa.1943.45.3.02a00010.pdf?sequence=1