Technology, Livability, and Sustainability

Abstract

What is technology? How is humanity able to manage such technology for a sustainable future? The question leads this study to rethink how humanity understands and engenders technology. Global climate change is a considerable wake-up call that modern technology is not able to control its mission and direction. This is because the modern concept of technology has become more and more mechanical rather than theoretical. This essay aims to unveil the significance of technology in reinventing the mission for environmental sustainability. This study argues that global environmental crises are avoidable if the technology is understood from its original sense as techne. Retrieving and revisiting the ancient Greek concept is considered an urgent option for renewing humanity’s relation to the natural environment and its resources. In terms of techne, our civilization will be able to sustain its future development responsibly because it is nothing but the extension of the hand of the man that makes things and cares about their presence for beings as a whole system.