Historical Aspects of Technological Revolutions and Society Transformation

This chapter delves into the historical aspects of several technological revolutions and their transforming impact on society. It surveys significant technological advancements in human history, from the hunting-gathering society to the agricultural society to the digital revolution-driven Information Age. It explores the technological revolutions driving socio-economic, cultural, political, and environmental transformations. The last revolution, the Industrial Revolution, for instance, brought about the mechanisation of the production of goods and services, urbanisation, and the modern factory system, drastically altering the economic and social dimensions of societies and social interactions. The present technological revolution, the digital and information age, characterised by the advent of computers, the Internet, and digital technologies, ushered in a new era of connectivity, information access, and communication and has had a huge impact on several sectors of economies and social life from multiple dimensions.