The life of earliest men was rough, nasty and devoid of any comfort, it was full of drudgery and stress. He had to eat his food and meat raw instead of cooking; lived and slept on trees and caves, on hard, rough and coarse surface instead of in good houses and soft beds. He had no other source of light except the sun during the day and moon during the night. The earlier man lived a life that the modern man would today consider as being rough and brutish.
Today, the modern man life has tremendously changed for good. He had learnt how to control his environment in particular and nature in general to his own advantage. This was made possible by science and technology. Science and technology has contributed immensely in the improvement of the ways the modern man lives his life. We can refer to the discovery of fire as the most significant contributions of the stone-age man.
The discovery of fire led man to many other discoveries that changed and enhanced his life. Presently, remarkable scientific and technological changes abound in almost every sphere of human endeavor like in the electronics, chemical, pharmaceutical, political, economical, medical, social, and cultural.
The positive effects of science and technology include:
Agriculture:
Agriculture has been greatly revolutionized through science and technology. In the past the production of food was very minimal because of the labour required for large production. There was also the problem of preserving the foods that were produced. In today’s world, science and technology has helped man to discover how to preserve his food and increase food production.
Agricultural mechanization has also led to the production of plants and animal species that are highly resistant to diseases, through hybridization.Resources such as manure and fertilizers which enhance food production were made possible through science and technology.
Man is now able to control and prevent food wastage through the invention of scientific preservative agents, machines and methods. Science and technology have also led to the invention of chemicals and drugs for prevention, curing of diseases and pests that attack crops and livestock’s.
Communication:
In the olden days and in some present remote or primitive societies, communication has always been through town criers, messengers, beating of drums, wooden gongs, smoke signals and signs.These means of communication have so many short comings: firstly, it took several days before massage can get to its destination through the use of messengers; town criers might be inaudible making it difficult for people to understand the message; the message being sent through the beating of drums or wooden gongs may not convey the exact information intended; signals were usually misinterpreted.
However, all these are no longer obtainable in modern life. Science and technology has brought in lots of improvements in communication such that messages and information gets to their destination within few seconds instead of several days. This was possible through the invention of television, radio, telephone, cell phones, computer, and internet.
Education:
Education has been revolutionized through science and technology so much that today we talk of educational technology.Educational technology refers to hardware and software, television, radio, electronic classroom, instructional devices, still and motion pictures projectors, computer assisted or managed instructional equipment and materials, communication equipment for educational application and other equipment and materials necessary to assist the process of learning.
Science and technology have contributed in making instruction and learning more scientific and systematic. With the internet, it is easy to gain access to the best libraries in the world.
Health and Medicine:
Before the advent of science and technology, healthcare delivery and medicine were quite underdeveloped. Treatment of illness or ailment depended heavily on native herbs which most often did not bring cure to some ailment. However, with the use of science and technology, many diseases now have cure and this has greatly increased life expectancy and reduced death rate as well as infant mortality which was very rampant in the olden days.
Science and technology led to the discovery of various ways and means of enhancing life and ensuring a healthy society. This include new and more effective drugs developed for various diseases like malaria, diabetes, typhoid fever, hypertension, high blood pressure, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.
Science and technology have greatly improved health not only in curing disease but also in preventing diseases through immunization. Things that were considered impossible in healthcare before now, such as heart transplant, kidney transplant and artificial limbs are now made very possible through the advancement of science of technology.
Transport:
In the olden days, men used to trek from place to place on foot or used horses, camels and donkey for transportation. This type of transportation was very slow and usually last for days, weeks and even months before getting to the destination.
In today’s world, science and technology have made it possible for man to travel across the globe in just few hours. The invention of airplanes, ships, jets, speed train, cars, motorcycles, etc, have improved the transportation sector and enabled man to travel easily, speedily and comfortably within a short time.
Entertainment:
Science and technology has played a significant role in the entertainment industry. In our rural societies those locally made musical instruments that have provided melodious sounds, have gone through technological advancement, now we have sophisticated musical instrument that produces fantabulous sound and melodies.
 With the invention of television, radio, cassettes, compact disks, video tape players, computer system etc, entertainment is now closer to the people. Science and technology have so much improved the entertainment industry so much that, even our cell phones are designed to play music, watch movies and play game.
Finally, science and technology have exerted tremendous influence on the life of man so much that man has continuously sought to use science and technology to improve his life and his society. The positive effects of science and technology to man and his environment as discussed in this post can be summed up in just four main point as:
- Higher standard of living
- Reduced the amount of labour needed to produce goods and services.
- Increased productivity and
- Easier labour.
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