What Is a Research Paper?
- An Introduction to Punctuation
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A research paper is a common form of academic writing . Research papers require students and academics to locate information about a topic (that is, to conduct research ), take a stand on that topic, and provide support (or evidence) for that position in an organized report.
The term research paper may also refer to a scholarly article that contains the results of original research or an evaluation of research conducted by others. Most scholarly articles must undergo a process of peer review before they can be accepted for publication in an academic journal.
Define Your Research Question
The first step in writing a research paper is defining your research question . Has your instructor assigned a specific topic? If so, great—you've got this step covered. If not, review the guidelines of the assignment. Your instructor has likely provided several general subjects for your consideration. Your research paper should focus on a specific angle on one of these subjects. Spend some time mulling over your options before deciding which one you'd like to explore more deeply.
Try to choose a research question that interests you. The research process is time-consuming, and you'll be significantly more motivated if you have a genuine desire to learn more about the topic. You should also consider whether you have access to all of the resources necessary to conduct thorough research on your topic, such as primary and secondary sources .
Create a Research Strategy
Approach the research process systematically by creating a research strategy. First, review your library's website. What resources are available? Where will you find them? Do any resources require a special process to gain access? Start gathering those resources—especially those that may be difficult to access—as soon as possible.
Second, make an appointment with a reference librarian . A reference librarian is nothing short of a research superhero. He or she will listen to your research question, offer suggestions for how to focus your research, and direct you toward valuable sources that directly relate to your topic.
Evaluate Sources
Now that you've gathered a wide array of sources, it's time to evaluate them. First, consider the reliability of the information. Where is the information coming from? What is the origin of the source? Second, assess the relevance of the information. How does this information relate to your research question? Does it support, refute, or add context to your position? How does it relate to the other sources you'll be using in your paper? Once you have determined that your sources are both reliable and relevant, you can proceed confidently to the writing phase.
Why Write Research Papers?
The research process is one of the most taxing academic tasks you'll be asked to complete. Luckily, the value of writing a research paper goes beyond that A+ you hope to receive. Here are just some of the benefits of research papers.
- Learning Scholarly Conventions: Writing a research paper is a crash course in the stylistic conventions of scholarly writing. During the research and writing process, you'll learn how to document your research, cite sources appropriately, format an academic paper, maintain an academic tone, and more.
- Organizing Information: In a way, research is nothing more than a massive organizational project. The information available to you is near-infinite, and it's your job to review that information, narrow it down, categorize it, and present it in a clear, relevant format. This process requires attention to detail and major brainpower.
- Managing Time: Research papers put your time management skills to the test. Every step of the research and writing process takes time, and it's up to you to set aside the time you'll need to complete each step of the task. Maximize your efficiency by creating a research schedule and inserting blocks of "research time" into your calendar as soon as you receive the assignment.
- Exploring Your Chosen Subject: We couldn't forget the best part of research papers—learning about something that truly excites you. No matter what topic you choose, you're bound to come away from the research process with new ideas and countless nuggets of fascinating information.
The best research papers are the result of genuine interest and a thorough research process. With these ideas in mind, go forth and research. Welcome to the scholarly conversation!
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Technology Research Topics
20 Dec 2021
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What are technology research topics, tips for writing technology research papers, computer science and engineering technology research topics, energy and power technology research topics, medical devices & diagnostics, pharmaceutical technology research topics, food technology research topic, educational technology research topic, controversial technology research topics, transportation technology research topics, information communication technologies (itc) research topics.
Have you ever wondered what interesting technology topics for research papers mean? Then this article will provide you with the answer and topic examples that you can research and write on.
Have you ever wondered what interesting technology topics for research paper mean? Then this article will provide you with the answer and topic examples that you can research and write on.
Tech-related topics are among the vastest categories for college students, experts, and researchers. The field covers everything development majorly. The good thing about technology is that it cuts across every business sector and education field. It is important in Sciences, Socials and Fine Arts.
There have been many technology research topics about technology and development of sciences in the 21st century. This is due to the massive scope of this field. Researchers and thesis students have continued to research the foundation of every development. Triggering new findings that contribute to the overall improvement of the field. There have been many thesis papers on technologies, and there will still be more over the years. This is because the field has witnessed the highest and fastest growth among other disciplines and sciences.
This article seeks to take the research of technology and its concepts to a higher level. By considering very recent topics in line with the evolution and revolution of the field. The topics suggested in this article are divided into various categories to give readers a very good understanding of the latest technological concepts.
A technology research topic is a research or thesis title that gives a researcher or expert an idea of what to work on. While in certain instances, people who make technology research will have their topic scribbled out for them, most of the time, they will need to get a topic themselves. These topics make it easy for them to work on.
Generally, a topic based on the technological field will be very formal. It must contain researched data and facts. The topic must have a final aim of projecting a solution, answer, or knowledge to the targeted audience. With this being the case, getting a technology research title requires more than just picking any topic. What will pass on as the best topic for research title will be one that can be researched and provides a solution to a problem that the target audience needs. In certain instances, both the problem and the solution may be completely new to the target audience.
However, the ability of the writer to make their target audience know that there is a problem and a corresponding solution could do the thesis and project a pathway to ground-breaking research. Hence, a research title must open the researcher, thesis student, and expert to opportunities that could trigger landmark solutions.
Based on the importance of a research title to an entire technology thesis or research, a potential writer must ensure that they know what it takes to draft an excellent technology and scientific research paper title. The good thing is that tips are available to draft an excellent thesis topic.
There are very important steps that must be followed for a writer to make an excellent thesis topic. One major tip is that any topic selected must include at least one recent technology. A thesis topic that needs today's basic technology as a roadmap has a higher probability of coming out much more successfully than one that does not include any current or new technology. It is also possible to buy a research paper based on technology to avoid all the processes of learning new technology concepts. Below are the top tips for writing excellent technology Research projects.
- Understand The Research Assignment This step is very important and will determine whether you need to purchase a research paper or not. You have to understand the assignment to be asked to research if you seek to give out great quality work. You need to ensure that you know the problem being projected to you and what is needed as a solution. The best research paper topics technology are those the writers fully understood and created.
- Get the Topic Idea You can only carve out a topic for an assignment that you understand. This is why the first step is imperative and why this one must follow. Understanding the topic that currently and comprehensively covers the assignment and its solution will help you develop a catching title. Even if you seek to purchase research papers for sale , you will need to fully understand the assignment and the relevant fitting topic before purchasing. You will get value for your money and wow your target audience.
- Choose a Scope to Research If you are writing your research yourself, you should know that getting a topic is not just enough. A topic may cut into very vast areas, and it would be impossible for you to research all of these areas before your submission deadline. So the best way to ensure that you give quality research assignments is by specifying the scope of your topic. Identify which questions you want to provide answers for and focus on them. That way, your effort will be concentrated with a better output.
- Get Good Links Knowing how to get great links for your work is very important as that will help you give out excellent work. Relying on established sources for important theories will help you establish a more convincing solution to the problem your research is about.
This article will consider major research topics on different technology research topics so that researchers and students planning to write a thesis or research paper can select from them and start their project immediately.
Computer Science is one of the widest fields of Technology projects. As such, there are multiple writing topics to explore following the consistent and continuous development of the sector. As for Computer Science, there are many research works on computer engineering and more to explore. Thanks to the growth in better computer hardware and the more seamless management systems developed over time.
This section consists of 15 different research topics that thesis and college students can work on and get approval from their supervisors.
All the topics are recent and in line with global needs in 2023 and the next couple of years. They include:
- Blockchain technology and the banking industry
- The connection between human perception and virtual reality
- Computer-assisted education and the future
- High-dimensional data modeling and computer science
- Parallel computing Languages
- Imperative and declarative language in computer science
- The machine architecture and the efficiency of code
- The use of mesh generation for computational domains
- Persistent data structure optimization
- System programming language development
- Cyber-physical system vs sensor network
- Network economics and game theory
- Computational thinking and science
- Types of software security
- Programming language and floating-point
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Unlike many technology-related topics, Energy and Power is one that cuts into the spheres of politics, economics, and pure science. In the areas of Economics, Energy and Power are the second most arbitrated cases. It’s only behind Construction disputes.
However, energy and Power in Science and Practicality are not for the sake of disputes. In recent years, there has been more harmony between energy and other tech-related disciplines. This has triggered many research projects, and writing research assignments is not out of the equation.
So do you have an energy/Power research assignment to handle, then this section provides you with amazing topic ideas and scopes that you can choose and pick from? All the topics are very recent and in line with the needs of today's assignments.
Get topics that focus on Cars, power industries, chemicals, and more.
- The use of fuel cells for stationary power generation
- Energy density
- Lithium-air and lithium-ion battery
- The better between gasoline and lithium-air batteries
- Renewable energy technologies
- The pros and cons of renewable energy usage
- Algae and biofuels
- Solar installations of India
- The use of robots in adjusting solar panels to weather
- Create energy and inertial confinement fusion
- Hydrogen energy and the future
- Alternative energy sources amidst gas price increase
- The application of energy transformation methods in respect to hydrogen energy
- AC systems and thermal storage
- Loading balance using smart grid
Medical devices and diagnostics are fast-growing fields with many opportunities for researchers to explore. There are thousands of devices that aid doctors in treating and managing patients. However, it cannot be emphatically stated that all of these devices offer the best results, where research assignments come into play.
As medical devices, medical diagnoses are also A very concentrated research area. Diagnostic research is highly related to medical devices because diagnoses are carried out with modern gadgets being produced by experts.
This section will consider top medical devices and diagnoses research titles in line with recent needs.
- Difference between Medical Devices and Drugs
- How Diagnostics helps treatment in 2023
- The Era of genetics Diagnostics and Discovery of Hidden Vulnerabilities
- How are Medical Smart Carts changing the game of Medicine?
- The Eventuality of AI in Smart Medical Devices
- The Regulation of Medical Devices
- Should Private Diagnoses Be Used for Making Critical Medical Decisions?
- Diagnostic Devices, Genetic Tests, and In Vitro Devices
- 3D & 4D Printing in Biomedicine
- Innovation in Minimally Invasive Therapies, Screening and Biosensing: Complex Networks, Data-driven Models
- Are medical Devices turning the Health Sector into a small interconnected powerhouse?
- Advances in Methods of Diagnostic & Therapeutic Devices
- What are Intra-Body Communication & Sensing?
- Smart Gadgets Data Collection in terms of Neuroscience
- The Contribution of Smartphone-Enabled Point-of-Care Diagnostic & Communication Systems
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Medicine has continued to improve, with technology in this area spiking in the last 20 years than it did centuries before. Pharmaceutical technology is one of the major flag bearers of this growth. As the COVID-19 pandemic revealed, the potential of pharmaceutical technology knows no bounds as long as there is continuous research in the field.
With that being the case, there are multiple research titles and projects available to take on in this field, with the opportunity almost endless. This section lists some of these topics to help research students get great topics that they can work on for the best effect. While they are only 15, they all cover a large scope of inexhaustible topics, leaving the researcher to make their choice.
- The technologies of pharmaceuticals and their specialty medications
- The technology and trend of prior electronic authorization in pharmacy
- Medication therapy management and its effectiveness
- Electronic prescription of a controlled substance as regards the issues of drug abuse
- Health information exchange and medication therapy management
- How efficient and effective is a drug prescription monitoring program?
- The script standard of NCPDP for specialty pharmacies
- The patient's interest in real-time pharmacy
- AIDS: development of drugs and vaccines
- Pharmaceutical technologies and data security
- The DNA library technology: an overview
- The impact of cloud ERP in the pharmaceutical industry
- Cannabidiol medication in pain management and the future
- Pharmaceutical research with phenotypic screening
- The benefits of cloud technology for small pharmaceutical companies
Food research assignments and thesis have been going on for decades and even centuries due to their importance to living organisms. In 2023, this trend is expected to continue with more research topics to explore. Here are some amazing topic ideas that you can choose from and offer a mind-blowing research assignment.
- The types of machines used in the food industry
- 3D printing and the food industry
- Micro packaging and the future
- The impacts of robots as regards safety in butchery
- Swallowing disorder: 3D printed food as a solution
- Food technology and food waste: what are the solutions
- Biofilms and cold plasma
- Drones and precision agriculture
- Food industry and the time-temperature indicators
- Preservatives, additives, and the human gut microbiome
- Hydroponic and conventional farming
- The elimination of byproducts in edible oil production
- The baking industry and the newest technology
- Electronic nose in agriculture and food industry
- Food safety
As far as college students are concerned, technology in education and its subsequent research is the biggest assignment and thesis they have to consider. Education technology has continued to grow, with many gadgets and smart equipment introduced to facilitate better learning.
This section will consider some of the major education research titles that technology students can pick and provide excellent research.
- How is computational thinking improving critical thinking among students
- The effect of professional learning for college student
- The impact of technology in educational research
- The relevance of technology in advancing scientific research
- Virtual reality and its role in helping student understand complex concepts
- Global learning through technology and how it affects education standards
- Data centers and their role in education
- Cultural competence and socio-emotional learning
- Artificial intelligence and educational system
- Is the development of sufficient national capacities related to science, technology, and innovation possible?
- How inclusive is the architecture of learning systems?
- Student-centered learning
- The impact of connectivity for schools and learning, especially in rural environments
- Energy sources: their technological relativity and use in education
- Community college: advantages and disadvantages
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As the name suggests, Controversial technology topics are among the most researched in science. How good is technology considering its effects on the global world and nature? This argument is the foundation of Controversial technology topics. See 15 different technology topics to choose from as you start your research assignment.
- Can Human Trials Improve Drugs and Medicines Faster?
- The Legality of Euthanasia and Assisted Killings in Medicine
- Why Kids should not be exposed to the Internet and Social Media Gadgets in Their Earlier Years
- How Is Technology Destroying the World's Ecology?
- Is Technology Leading the Destruction of the World's Climate?
- How Has Technology Increased Radiation and the Depletion of the World?
- Does Technology Increase Gang Initiation due to Internet Access?
- How Social Media Increases the Rate of Children and Young Adults Death?
- The Relationship Between Technology and Depression
- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR): Editing the Human Genome
- The Possible Devastation of World from High-Tech Military Weapons
- Space Colonization: How it is Good and Bad for Mother Earth
- Are Law Enforcement use of Hidden Cameras an Encroachment of Privacy?
- How Virtual Reality Can Become the New Reality If Developed?
- The Wins of Cochlear Implant Research
Transportation technology research titles are among the hottest categories for students currently. See 15 best research topics for tech and science-related research to pick from.
- Are Computerized self-driving Cars Safe?
- The development and Advantages of hybrid cars and Electric cars
- How to Protect your smart car from hijackers and Car Thieves?
- Will the next-generation Cars Have Reliable GPS devices and Replace Drivers?
- The Evolution of High-speed rail networks and How They Change Rail Transport
- Driving and Using Cell phones: The Global Stats of Cell Phone Related Auto Accidents
- Is Teleportation an Impossible Physics?
- Will Gyroscopes be the new convenient solutions for public transportation?
- Will Logistics Companies be More Efficient With Electric Trucks?
- How Carbon fiber Serves as an optional material for unit load devices
- The Benefits of Advanced Transport Management Systems (TMS)?
- Can Solar Roadways Become More Cost-Effective?
- Does Technology Provide the Possibility of Water Powered Cars?
- How AI has Penetrated the Transport System and Make It More Effective
- Speed and Safety: How Technology Has Revolutionized Transport Systems
ICT is arguably the biggest field of technology, thanks to the amazing developments that have been achieved over the years in the field. ICT plays a major role in different areas of human life. This includes the area of TELECOMs, Education, Family, and Industries.
This section will consider 15 major technology titles on ICT to help students get topics to work on.
- How is technology improving Humans reading ability?
- Do online formats of readable information encourage readers to skim through instead of Understanding the Topics?
- How has technology made it extremely easy to get information in Seconds: a good or bad development?
- The Misconception of Gauging Intelligence?
- How are Internet Search Engines changing us?
- The introduction of ICT and new technologies in Education and How they improve Students' learning
- Is it worrisome that schools and Colleges now educate students via iPads, social media, Smart Boards, and other new Applications?
- Did the Digital Age trigger any loss of information and Unique Intelligence that conventional and Traditional Learning and research methods provided in the Old era?
- Do Search Engines and Web2 Platforms censor information, leave users blindsided, and Keep them in the Dark?
- Should Encyclopedia sites such as Wikipedia be Regulated because of the High Risk of it Providing Wrong Information to the Public?
- Are Blogs and Online Websites Better than Books?
- The Importance of Traditional Researching and learning in a Highly Digital World
- Do PDFs and Other Electronic Books Promote Short Attention Span?
- Are Tech-Savvy generations dumber or Smarter?
- Should Schools Become Fully Digitalized?
This article shows that technology research papers require a good understanding of technological and scientific concepts. That way, people can easily understand the basis of an assignment. They know how to draft the topic and scope. They also get excellent resources for completing the projects.
This article explained what technological research papers are. It explained how to write them and listed many topic examples people can use for their projects. Therefore, if you follow all the information discussed in this article, you will get top technology ideas for research.
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What is Technology Research and Development?
Technology research and development refers to the invention, design, improvement, and construction of new types of products, equipment, and machinery. Highly skilled scientists and engineers conduct technology research and development on medical equipment, consumer electronics, industrial machines, power generators, computers, and any number of other modern devices. Professionals conduct research in many different settings, including engineering firms, biotechnology companies, manufacturing plants, university laboratories, and private shops.
A significant portion of technology research and development is dedicated to coming up with creative, useful inventions.Egnineers perform comprehensive research on current technology in their field of expertise to determine the need for new products or improvements that can be made to existing ones. Professionals in most settings work together to brainstorm ideas, calculate the amount of time and money it will take to develop a new product as well as the likelihood of its success. Engineers frequently write grant proposals to obtain the funding necessary to begin the building phase.
A team of expert engineers usually employs computer-aided drafting programs to design a piece of equipment, work out the measurements and functional aspects, and subject it to simulated tests. When the design shows promise, the engineers obtain raw materials, build a prototype, and conduct several experiments and test runs to make sure it works properly. A successful machine goes through a final inspection to ensure that it is safe, legal, and as efficient as possible. The team of engineers can then apply for patents and arrange for the item to be mass-manufactured, advertised, and sold to distributors.
Millions of hours and huge sums of money are allocated to technology research and development in dozens of different industries. Some of the most important and most prominent research is geared at nanotechnology and its applications to computer science . Expert scientists and engineers continuously think of ways to make computers, electronics, and telecommunications services faster and more effective. Technology research and development is essential in the design of energy-efficient automobiles, generators, and power plants. The work of modern engineers also influences environmental protection, medical services, food science , aeronautics and public sanitation systems.
Individuals who wish to get involved in technology research and development can apply for internships or assistant positions at different institutions. Assistants help engineers build and test prototypes, write reports, and apply for patents. People who want to become more involved in designing new products are typically required to obtain bachelor's degrees or higher in mechanical, industrial, biomedical, or computer engineering . Professionals who gain experience in the field and stay up-to-date on the latest technological advances are may be granted the opportunity to supervise a team of engineers and assistants and organize independent research projects.
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- By: Monkey Business A research and development team can use brainstorming to generate ideas.
- By: Marzky Ragsac Jr. Computer-aided drafting programs are a great tool for technology research and development teams.
- By: Monkey Business Some technology research and development may take place in a laboratory environment.
- By: nikesidoroff Most new drugs are made by large investments in research and development.
- By: Pavel Losevsky Allowing the public to interact with mock-ups at trade shows is part of the R&D process, as it enables engineers to see how consumers will interface with products.
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Top 100 technology research topics.
July 8, 2020
The choice of technology research topics can influence the quality of the final papers submitted by students. It can also impact the experience of students when writing their papers. These are some of the reasons why students should be careful when choosing technology topics to research and write about.
Nevertheless, students that have difficulties in choosing topics about technology have many options to consider. What’s more, topics on technology can be classified into different categories. Here are some of the research topics about technology that learners can research and write about. If you decide to get professional writing help, just contact our academic writers .
Latest Technology Research Topics
If you want to write about the latest technological inventions, consider technology research paper topics in this category. Here are some of them.
- 3D algorithms – Discuss their use in computer programming languages and the game video games’ development
- Explain the inefficient use of 3D printers in today’s society
- Ad Server – Explain technology use in advertising
- Explain the evolution of artificial intelligence
- Explain the concept of auto text summarization
- Explain the process of building energy conservation designs
- Compare and contrast online learning and face-to-face learning
- Explain how cloud computing has changed how data is processed and stored in servers
- How do cell phones make humans depend on one another?
- Can the use of cell phones lead to brain cancer?
- Can genetic food modification technology be used to solve the world hunger problem?
- Discuss the undefined guidelines or rules that are followed in business technology
- Discuss the computer-aided control technology
- Discuss the computer-aided manufacture and design
- Explain how social media technology is helping in the creation of new families
- Explain the use of data mining technology in detecting technical theft and fraud
- Explain the effectiveness of the use of electronic surveillance to protect properties from possible dangers
- Explain how phishing can be stopped completely
- Explain how imaginaire has changed how people relate
- Why is the use of cell phones when driving risky?
These are just some of the latest technology-related topics. However, students should choose topics they find interesting and then conduct extensive research to find adequate and relevant data.
Amazing Technology Debate Topics
Are you looking for debatable technology essay topics? If yes, here are examples of such topics to consider.
- Explain how smart clothes or technology-compatible fashions have become a future wave
- Explain how voting fraud is a major problem because voting machines are easy to compromise
- How are tech companies overshadowing technology security
- Apple versus Samsung – Which company is the technology giant?
- Are Apple products designed and built to last?
- Android versus Apple – Who makes better devices?
- Are plasma televisions on their way out?
- How better can robots be in comparison to humans?
- Are entrepreneurs spending too much on tech start-ups?
- Can this time in history be described as the Age of Hacks?
- Why should you prefer Apple products?
- Do you like the autoplay feature for Facebook videos?
- Are you worried that your email account could be hacked?
- Are Firefox and Yahoo going against Google when it comes to diminishing its influence and growth?
- Are you worried about having your USB device hacked?
- Can you trust anti-surveillance software?
- Can books be replaced by technology?
- Can cell phones be used as educational tools?
- How important is a website for a modern company?
- Will consoles every reach the level of personal computers?
Interesting Technology Topics
If looking for hot topics in technology, consider some of the ideas in this category. Here are some of the most interesting research topics on technology that you should consider.
- Are medical apps reliable?
- How has the internet made outsourcing easier?
- Is Bitcoin safe and reliable?
- How can technology be used to manage healthcare in the cloud?
- Will self-driving cars be safe?
- How effective are video surveillance and smart homes?
- Are digital voting machines encouraging voter fraud or paving way for the future?
- Are children spending excessive time on the internet?
- Is gene editing ethical?
- What are the Blockchain technology basics?
- Why is virtual gaming and reality so popular?
- How addictive are video games?
- Why are teenagers avoiding some social media platforms?
- Are VPN sketchy or safe?
- What does a transition from 4G to 5G means?
- What is the future of video streaming?
- How have technology advances changed IT support?
- Explain what companies are doing to beat hackers?
- Explain the concept of online shopping and augmented reality
- Explain GGI advancements in videogames and movies
These are some of the best computer technology topics to consider if you want to research and write about something interesting. Nevertheless, you should be ready to research extensively to find relevant and factual data to support your argument.
Controversial Technology Topics
Learners have many controversial topics in technology to consider. These are engaging and relatable topics that many people find controversial. Here are examples of such topics:
- How dangerous are cell phones?
- What are the emerging alternative energy forms?
- Are digital tools making humans less or more productive?
- How different is the world in which kids under the age of 12 are growing compared to those in colleges?
- Is the world having a throw-away society?
- Explain the drone warfare
- How can technology be used to prevent pregnancy among teens?
- Should the internet be censored or controlled?
- Digital learning is changing education and schools- Explain
- Explain the use of filthy language on the internet
- Explain how technology is influencing the education system
- Is technology turning humans into zombies?
- How can technology be used to regulate the human diet?
- Should technological developments be accessed by people across the world equally?
- Should identity chips be implanted under the human skin?
- How is technology influencing behavior among children?
- How have human lives changed because of technology?
- How is digital learning changing education and classrooms
- Are Smartphones reducing live communication?
- What are the negative effects of new technologies?
This category has some of the best educational technology topics. Some of them are also great technology presentation topics. However, students should research them extensively and use reliable sources to find quality data to support their arguments.
Technology Argumentative Essay Topics
Perhaps, you’re looking for technology essays topics that allow you to take a stance. In that case, you should choose the topics in this category. Here are examples of the best topics in this category.
- Cell phones are too harmful
- Video games are too violent for children
- How good are mobile apps for learning
- Are the existing technologies making people lonely?
- Modern people are technological zombies
- Young people are too dependent on Smartphones and computers
- Modern teens are over depending on information technologies
- Is texting an effective way to communicate?
- Spy applications are an invasion of mobile phones privacy
- Explain how cyber-bullying can be blocked effectively
- Explain how Google has affected society
- How people have become anti-social because of technology
- Explain the pros and cons of using mobile phones
- Explain how technology makes people feel lonely
- Some computer games are partly the cause of mass murder
These can also be great technology speech topics. Nevertheless, they also require extensive research to come up with great papers.
Information Technology Topics
In addition to science and technology topics, students can also write on different information technology research topics. Examples of such topics include:
- How information technologies will change human life in 20 years
- Explain what governments are doing to regulate how people use the internet
- Explain the long-term effects of information technology
- Does the use of the internet to communicate bring humans closer together?
- Compare the human brain function and how computers work
Information technology research paper topics are very common in high schools and colleges. They are also common in social science studies. That’s because they enable learners to evaluate the impact of modern technologies on human behaviors. You can also check our computer science topics .
In addition to these categories, learners can also choose topics in business technology, science and technology topics, as well as, technology security topics. The most important thing is to select a topic you can comfortably research and write about.
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Technology Research Paper
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Introduction
Man’s relation to technology: a brief history, technology and biological anthropology, the sts approach, classical philosophical anthropology, philosophy of technology, the continental approach to the philosophy of technology, the analytic approach to the philosophy of technology, recent developments: bridging the gap, conclusion and future directions.
- Bibliography
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The term technology is derived from the Greek word techné. The Greek word refers to all forms of skillful, rule-based mastery in any field of human praxis, originally encompassing both arts (like painting, sculpture, writing, and the like) and craftsmanship (like carpentry, shipbuilding, architecture, and the like). The Roman culture uses the Latin word arts for these domains. Accordingly the medieval terminology distinguishes between the seven free arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, astronomy) and the mechanical arts (e.g., agriculture, architecture, tailoring), thus prefiguring the later distinction between arts (as linked to the study of humans and the humanities) and technology (as linked to engineering and the study and science of nature).
The modern word technology finally refers either to procedures and skillful application of sciences for the production of industrial or manual products or to the products of these processes themselves. In this sense, technology nowadays encompasses only a part of the original Greek definition. The place of technology as being on the one hand a product of humans (being thus rooted in human anthropology and human tool usage), and being on the other hand based on a solid scientific understanding of the laws of nature (modern technology), can be seen as the two key features of contemporary and recent approaches to analyze and understand technology. Technology is then in one respect as old as humankind: Many approaches in anthropology thus refer to the general structure of technology in all of human history and relate it to the biological condition of humans. But recent anthropological thinking also reflects on the specific details of modern technology. It has often been argued that there is a structural difference between modern, science-based technology and older forms of craftsmanship of ancient or medieval types of technology. Therefore, a central question for modern anthropology is to analyze the consequences modern technology has for our picture of humankind: how to define man in the age of technology.
Reflection about the anthropological function of technology is probably as old as human self-reflection itself, since the ability to use tools and create cultural products has always been seen as a unique human feature, distinguishing humankind from most other animals (see also the next section on biological anthropology). But an analysis of technology was not at the center of political, social, anthropological, or philosophical thoughts before the development of the modern natural sciences and their counterpart, modern technology. Following Carl Mitcham (1994) one can roughly distinguish three approaches to technology before the 20th century, encompassing many topics that later became essential parts of contemporary discussions about technology (p. 275). The three approaches are as follows:
- In the ancient world, technology is looked at with certain skepticism. The use of tools is seen as necessary for survival, but also regarded as dangerous, since it might lead to human hubris and might raise the envy and anger of the gods. In this sense, mythological thinking envisions technology as, for example, stolen from the gods (the myth of Prometheus), and thus not properly belonging to humans. The extensive use of technology is often seen as leading to megalomaniac fantasies or unjustified overstepping of religious and ethical boundaries (e.g., myth of the Tower of Babel, myth of Icarus). Philosophical reflection, however, acknowledges the value of technology for an otherwise defenseless human being. Already Plato anticipates a central thought of modern anthropology: Human beings are poorly equipped for survival in nature. They need to compensate for this lack by developing skills of rational thinking and the usage of tools (this idea later becomes a central thesis of the famous anthropology of Arnold Gehlen [1988]). But the emphasis in ancient philosophical anthropology lies not so much on man’s capacities to invent technology, but on man’s moral character (exemplified by ancient wisdom or medieval religiosity). The usage of technical knowledge should thus be kept within strict ethical boundaries.
- In the hierarchy of knowledge, ethical wisdom is regarded in principle as higher than and superior to technological skills. Socrates points to the question that we should not only seek knowledge about how to do certain things (technical knowledge), but rather about whether we should perform certain actions (ethical knowledge); this idea can also be found in the medieval distinction between the (superior form of a) life in contemplation ( vita contemplativa ) and the (lower) life in active involvement ( vita activa ). Ancient and medieval technology is thus embedded in an anthropological vision, in which human virtues play an important role. Different forms of virtues are combined in the original crafts, as opposed to the later, modern differentiation of these virtues: In craftmanship one can find a union of economical virtues (e.g., efficient usage of limited resources), technical virtues (creating new entities that did not exist before), and often also aesthetic virtues (a sense of beauty that adds an aesthetic component to these newly created entities going beyond the modern idea that “form follows function”). In the Greek world, these three skills are combined in the realm of poiesis, while in modernity they are separated in the three domains of economy, technology, and art—each relatively independent of the others (Hösle, 2004, p. 366).
- A profound change in the evaluation of technology emerges with modernity, a position that Mitcham (1994) summarizes as Enlightenment optimism. Already in the writings of Francis Bacon (1620), the new science of nature and its application to experimental and technological research is highly welcomed. Progress in technology is seen as very beneficial to humankind, as it may lead to the cure of diseases, mastery over nature, and a constant progress toward a more human society. Many utopian writings mark the beginning of early modern thoughts in which technology is seen as essential in leading to a brighter future for humankind (e.g., Thomas More’s Utopia [1516], J. V. Andreae’s Christianopolis [1619], F. Bacon’s New Atlantis [1627]). In a similar line of thought, Enlightenment thinkers defend science and modern technology against attacks from religious conservatism, pointing at the beneficial consequences of technological and scientific progress.
- A countermovement to the Enlightenment is Romanticism, which accordingly has a different view on technology, referred to by Mitcham (1994) as Romantic uneasiness. Again, the central thought is an anthropological perspective in which man is seen as being good by nature, while it is civilization that poses the danger of alienating man from nature and from his fellow man, focusing only on his rational capacities and suppressing his emotional and social skills. Already Vico (1709) opposed Cartesian rationalism and feared that the new interest in science would lead to a neglect of traditional humanistic education. Rousseau’s critique of modern societies then became influential, seeing an advancement of knowledge and science, but a decay of virtues and immediacy ( Discourse on the Arts and Sciences; Rousseau, 1750). With the age of industrialism, the negative social consequences of modern labor work become the scope of interest of social theorists, leading up to Marx’s famous analysis of modern societies (see subsequent section on cultural and sociological anthropology). In opposition to the positive utopias centered on technology in early modernity, the 20th century then sees the literary success of pessimistic dystopias, in which often technological means of suppression or control play an important role (e.g., already in M. W. Schelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus [1818] and later in H. G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau [1896], A. Huxley’s Brave New World [1932], George Orwell’s 1984 [1948], and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 [1953]).
The tension between approaches praising the benefits of technology (in the spirit of the Enlightenment) and approaches focusing on negative consequences (in the spirit of Romanticism) still forms the background of most of the contemporary philosophical and anthropological debate; this debate circles around an understanding of modern technology, often rooted in the different “cultures” of the humanities and the sciences. It can be regarded as being a particularly vivid opposition at the beginning of the 20th century, that only later gave room for more detailed and balanced accounts of technology (some classics of the debate being Snow, 1959; McDermott, 1969).
Recent contributions toward a deeper understanding of the usage and development of technology stem from such different disciplines as biology, sociology, philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, ethics, theory of science, and religious worldviews. This research paper aims at a brief overview of important topics in the debate over technology during the 20th century to the present time. Three anthropological perspectives will be distinguished, depending on the main focus of anthropological interest. This will start with a brief summary of the biological anthropological perspective on technology, move on to those theories which focus more on social or cultural aspects, and conclude with more general philosophical anthropologies. This research paper is thus not chronologically organized, but tries to identify common themes of the debate, even though sometimes the topics might overlap (e.g., the case of Gehlen, a philosophical anthropologist who starts from a biological perspective and then moves on toward a more social view on technology).
In contemporary anthropology, technology becomes a central issue for at least two different reasons:
- From a biological perspective the usage of tools is regarded (next to the development of language and a cognitive rational apparatus) as one of the key features of humanization. Biological anthropology thus initially focuses on the differences and similarities of tool usage in humans and animals, trying to understand the role technology plays in general for an understanding of humans’ biological and social nature. With the focus on human evolution, attention is often drawn to the question of which role technology played at the beginning of humankind.
- While in this way always being a part of human culture, technology becomes arguably one of the single most influential key features of society only in modernity. According to Max Weber, science, technology, and economy form the “superstructure” of modernity, while they all share a common “rationality” (mainly of means-ends reasoning in economy and technology). The experience of the powers and dangers of modern technology (as in industrialized labor work, medical progress, nuclear energy and weapon technology, environmental problems due to pollution, and extensive usage of resources, etc.) has triggered many social, political, and philosophical reflections that—in opposition to biological anthropology—aim primarily at understanding the specifics of modern
Let us look at these two tendencies in turn, starting with the biological perspective, before moving to the social or cultural anthropology of technology.
Biological anthropologists are interested in the role technology played during humanization, and they attempt to give evolutionary accounts of the development of tool usage and technology and compare tool usage in man with tool usage in other animals. The development of technology has often been regarded as an evolutionarily necessary form of adaption or compensation. Since most of man’s organs are less developed than those of other species, he needed to compensate for this disadvantage in the evolutionary struggle for life (see Gehlen, 1980). Initially the usage of tools was considered a unique human feature, distinguishing the genus Homo from other animals (Oakley, 1957), but research on tool usage in different animals, especially chimpanzees, led to a more or less complete revision of this thesis (Schaik, Deaner, & Merrill, 1999).
Nowadays, many examples of tool usage in the animal kingdom are known (Beck, 1980). For example, chimpanzees use sticks to fish for termites, and elephants have been described as having a remarkable capacity for tool usage. Even though tool usage must thus be regarded as more common among animals, attention still needs to be drawn to the specifics of man’s tool usage, which arguably in scope and quality goes beyond what is known from the animal kingdom. It has been pointed out that our biological anatomy offers us several advantages for an extended usage of tools: walking erectly frees the two hands, which can then be used for other purposes. Furthermore, the position of the human thumb and short straight finger are of great benefit, especially in making and using stone tools (Ambrose, 2001). Still debated, however, is whether social and technological developments go hand in hand or whether one of the two factors is prior.
Even though many anthropologists tended to see social behaviors and cultural revolutions mostly as a consequence of a change in tool usage or a development of new technologies, it has also occasionally been argued that the development of social skills precedes the development of technical skills (e.g., in joint group hunting). It has additionally been acknowledged that chimpanzees also pass over some of their technical knowledge through the mechanism of learning and establishing cultural “traditions” that resemble, to some extent, human traditions (Wrangham, 1994; Laland, 2009). But there seems to be a specific difference in human and primate learning, namely in the fact that human children learn tool usage mainly via imitation and by simply copying a shown behavior, even if it is not the most efficient solution to a given problem. Opposed to this, chimpanzees seem to learn through a process called emulation, which implies that they diverge from the paradigmatic solution that has been “taught” to them. It has been argued that learning through imitation has been selected in humans, even though it is a less flexible strategy, because it is a more social strategy of learning (Tomasello, 1999, p. 28). In this way, biological anthropology mirrors a debate in social anthropology about the role of technology; this can be seen either as a driving force born out of necessity that calls for social changes (technical determinism), or as highly mediated or even constructed by culture (social constructivism).
Technology and Social/Cultural Anthropology
As already mentioned, technology was identified early on as a key feature of modern society (Misa, Brey, & Feenberg, 2004). Many studies have been written about the impact of modern technology on society, focusing mainly on the industrial revolution (e.g., Haferkamp, 1992; Pressnell, 1960; Smelser, 1969) or on the more recent revolution of the information society (e.g., Castells, 1999; Nora, 1980), as well as on the impact of technological change on traditional societies.
The analyses of Karl Marx and the Frankfurt School are influential, not only in trying to grasp the role of modern technology in society, but also in hinting on potential anthropological roots of technology and their essential interrelation with social aspects of the human condition. Marx insisted that the study of technology holds the highest relevance for human sciences, since it reveals the way humans deal with nature and sustain life (Marx, 1938). An essential feature of man’s nature is that he has to work in order to sustain his life, that he is the “toolmaking animal” or—as he has later been called—the Homo faber. Marx analyzes the role of technology in Chapter 13 of his first volume of Das Kapital. He argues that the division of labor becomes fostered through machines, which at the same time replace more and more traditional manpower and can furthermore be operated by less skilled employees, thus leading to very bad labor conditions for the working class. Technology in general is, however, still greeted as an option to make humans’ lives easier; it is mainly the social distribution of the possession of the means of production that Marx regards as problematic. (Also later thinkers, inspired by Marxian thought, tend to see technology as an important means toward establishing a better future.) On the other hand, at the same time, technology is seen as rooted in man’s will to dominate nature.
Following this later insight in particular, Theodor Adorno argues that Western civilization has developed powerful tools to ensure its self-preservation against nature. Technical rationality is regarded as the exercise of strategic power to dominate (external) nature, but it is at the same time also leading to a suppression of the inner nature of man (Adorno, 1979). The main strategy of this rationality is quantification, which lies at the heart of the mathematical-scientific interpretation of nature and the development of modern technology. At the same time it brings forth a type of rationality, which leads to a selfmutilation. The will to exercise power becomes the main feature of modern rationality, thus leading to a dialectic that turns the noble aims of the Age of Enlightenment into a morality of humankind that is its very opposite: A new barbaric system of oppression and dictatorship arises, using technology for totalitarian purposes.
While Adorno seeks redemption mainly in the arts (Adorno, 1999), seeming to promise the possibility of a completely different kind of subjectivity, Jürgen Habermas (1971) tries to propose an antidote; this does not lie outside of modern-Enlightenment rationality, but rather returns to its original intention. Habermas argues with Marx and Adorno, asserting that technological knowledge has its anthropological roots in the will to dominate nature and therefore serves a strategic interest of man. With this, man is not only Homo faber but also a social animal. Besides the strategic means-end rationality he also possesses a communicative rationality, aimed at defining common moral values and engaging in discourse over ethically acceptable principles of actions. In thus distinguishing two types of rationality, Habermas tries to incorporate much of the German tradition of cognitivistic ethics into his approach. It is important for Habermas that technology be brought under the control of democratic decision-making processes; his discourse ethics has thus helped to inspire ideas of participatory technology assessment.
Outside the Frankfurt School, technology has not been at the center of social and cultural anthropology, as has been often complained (Pfaffenberger, 1988, 1992). Langdon Winner (1986) coined the term technological somnambulism to refer to those theories that neglect the social dimension of technology. According to this dominant tradition, the human-technology relation is “too obvious” to merit serious reflection. Technology is seen as an independent factor of the material and social world, one that forms a relatively autonomous realm of ethically neutral tools to acquire human ends. But already Winner argues that technology is essentially social and is shaped by cultural conditions and underlying value decisions. He claims in a famous article (Winner, 1980) that Long Island’s low bridges were intentionally built in a way that would keep buses away, making it more difficult for the poor, and mainly the black population, to reach the island. Even though this particular claim has been challenged, Winner seems to be correct in pointing out that value decisions play a role in creating technology, and that the social value system leaves its trace in technological artifacts.
In line with this renewed interest in social issues, a new field of studies related to technology emerged in the 1980s, focusing explicitly on this neglected relation between society and technology: the so-called STS approach. Having been labeled the “turn to technology” (Woolgar, 1991), science and technology studies (STS) analyzes society’s impact on science and technology, and science and technology’s impact on society. Several writers draw attention to the social shaping of technology. An influential author is Bruno Latour, who contributed to both the initial appeal to social constructivism (that he later gave up) and the development of the actor-network theory; both are at the center of the debate about the theoretical underpinnings of STS.
Social Constructivism
Woolgar and Latour employ a social-constructivist perspective in their early case study on the production of scientific results, in which they analyze scientists’ attempt to establish and accumulate recognition and credibility of their research through the “cycle of credibility” (Latour, 1979). The main idea of social constructivism is the attempt to interpret alleged objective “facts” in the social world as being socially constructed, so that knowledge of the world and its interpretation depends on social mechanisms and cannot be traced back to objective facts (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). In this sense technology is also not an objective, independent given, but shaped by social ideas and societal interpretations.
Actor-Network Theory
In the 1980s and 1990s, Latour became one of the main proponents of the actor-network theory (Latour, 2005); this is also attractive to scholars who reject social constructivism, since it can be combined with the idea that not all of technology is socially constructed. The social-constructive interpretation of this theory aims to develop a framework in which society and nature, or society and technology, are not separated. The idea of technology as a sociotechnical system implies that agent and tool form a unity, which cannot be explained completely by referring to one of the two elements in isolation. According to this idea, technological artifacts dispose over some form of agency and can be—to some extent—regarded as actants. This ascription of intentionality and agency to technical systems is, however, highly debated. The debate between realism and social constructivism has thus not been settled.
Philosophical Anthropology and the Philosophy of Technology
Research in philosophical anthropology peaked in early 20th-century Germany, discussed in the next section. But outside of anthropological discussions, the topic of technology became an important issue for philosophy, so in this brief overview, important contributions and themes of the continental and analytic tradition will be discussed next. Finally, more recent developments and topics in the philosophy of technology will be sketched that do not try to revitalize a philosophical anthropology, but that nevertheless do touch in one way or another on anthropological perspectives on technology.
Classical philosophical anthropology was mainly interested in understanding the essence of human nature and often draws specific attention to the role of technology. Important contributions came from Gehlen, Plessner, and Scheler during the first half of the 20th century. The attempt to link technology to a biological interpretation of man in Gehlen’s early works especially deserves attention. Given his biological constitution, man must be seen as deficient by nature ( Mängelwesen ), since he is not endowed with instinctive routines and is not adapted well to a specific natural environment, but rather is open to the world ( weltoffen ). He compensates for this deficiency with the help of his mental capacities and tool usage. Gehlen interprets human language and human institutions as relief mechanisms ( Entlastungen ) that help him to interpret and organize the plentitude of impressions (the sensory overload, Reizüberflutung ) that he is exposed to. Most technologies can thus be regarded to be either organ-amplification ( Organverstärkung ) or organ-replacement ( Organersatz ) (Gehlen, 1988). In Man in the Age of Technology (1980), Gehlen focuses more on sociological perspectives of technology. He identifies two essential cultural breaks marking principle changes in humans’ world interpretation and social organization, both of which are linked to technological developments: (1) the neolithic revolution of sedentism, marking the passage from a hunter’s culture to a society of agriculture and cattle breeding, and (2) the industrial revolution in modernity (Gehlen, 1980).
Scheler also analyzes man’s rational capacities from a biological perspective, but he concludes that a purely naturalistic approach does not render justice to our selfunderstanding. The human ways of sustaining life are from an often inefficient biological perspective. Therefore, it must be pointed out that the main function of human knowledge is not only to strategically ensure humans’ own survival, but also to be directed toward the discovery of moral values and toward the process of self-education ( Bildung ). Humans not only live in an environment, but also reflect on their place in the world—a capacity that marks a fundamental difference between humans and animals (Scheler, 1961).
This type of philosophical anthropology came to a certain end when the main interest of philosophers shifted from understanding “man” to understanding “society” during the 1960s. With the recent developments of sociobiology, philosophers have taken a renewed interest in the linkage between biological and cultural interpretations of man. Let us look at some tendencies of later research in the philosophy of technology.
If we look at a philosophical interpretation of technology, we find the first origins of a discipline of the philosophy of technology by the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century (see Kapp, 1877, and Dessauer, 1933). During the first half of the 20th century, the philosophical analysis of technology can, roughly speaking, be divided into two main schools of thought: the continental, often skeptical approach, and the analytical, often optimistic approach . As with all such very generic typologies, this distinction likewise does not claim to be more than an approximation, while the general tendency of recent research seems precisely to be to overcome this gap and to aim for a convergence or crossfertilization of these two approaches. Therefore, what follows is an ideal-type distinction that tries to make some of the basic ideas of these two approaches more visible and aims at understanding their more general features.
The continental approach originally focused on a humanities-centered perspective on technology, its (mainly negative) consequences for society, and its rootedness in a problematic feature of human anthropology (the will to power), and finally tried to understand technology as such (its “essence”). The analytic approach, on the other hand, originally focused on a more science-based understanding of technology, its (mostly beneficial) potential for the progress of societies, and its rootedness in a rational (scientific) way to approach nature, and it finally tried to look not at technology as such but at specific problems or specific types of technologies.
In the continental philosophy of technology, technology is often interpreted as closely linked to a certain form of consciousness, a form of approaching nature (and also human interaction) from a perspective that is rooted in a scientific understanding of the world, which itself is rooted in the will to dominate nature. This approach is seen to replace or at least to endanger a value-based approach to reality. In this sense, Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology regards science and technology as a mere abstraction from the fullfledged real experience of the world we live in. In this way, the sphere of technical knowledge is limited and needs to be guided by value decisions, which do not have their basis in scientific or technical knowledge, but stem from our ethical knowledge of our life-world.
While technology is not at the center of Husserl’s interest, José Ortega y Gasset (1914/1961) was one of the first philosophers who aimed at a deeper understanding of the relation between human nature and technology. Rejecting Husserl’s later emphasis on the transcendental subject, he insists that human nature can only be understood by the formula “I am I plus my circumstances.” Philosophy can thus neither start from the isolated subject (as in idealism), nor can it interpret everything from the perspective of the material conditions (as in materialism). Rather, it must find a middle ground. The essence of humans is for Ortega not determined by nature; this distinguishes humans from plants or animals or from physical objects—all having a defined, specific given nature. Man must determine his own nature by himself by way of the creative imagination. Technology is interpreted as the material realization of this self-image; it is a projection of an inner invention into nature. According to Ortega, technology evolved in three phases: It started as a collection of accidental findings of means toward ends by pure chance. In a later state, these findings became traditions and skills that were passed on to the next generation. Modern technology marks a radical difference, since it is based on a systematic scientific approach, which forms the third phase. This approach, however, tends to become the dominant mode of thinking, so that man’s creative capacity for imagination (which is at the heart of man’s very essence) is in danger of being replaced or losing its importance (Ortega y Gasset, 1914/1961).
Martin Heidegger’s (1977) analysis of technology in his essay “The Question Concerning Technology” is also very influential. His philosophy aims at understanding the notion of being, which—so claims Heidegger—has been misinterpreted or neglected by traditional European philosophy. Since man is the only known being that can ask for the meaning of being, Heidegger’s analysis in Sein und Zeit starts from an interpretation of the existence of such a being ( Da-sein ). Even though his book is meant to be an exercise in philosophical (fundamental) ontology, it offers many anthropological insights about the specific human form of existence, in which the knowledge and the denial of one’s own mortality form essential human features.
In his later work, Heidegger (1977) understands technology as a specific form of disclosing reality. Asked for the essence of technology, people usually refer to it as a means to achieve an end (instrumental definition), or they define technology as an essential human activity (anthropological definition). Even though Heidegger admits that these definitions are “correct,” they do not disclose the essential truth about technology for two reasons. Essentially, (1) technology is not a tool for achieving an end, but rather the perspective under which everything that exists is seen only as a potential resource to achieve an (external) end. Furthermore, (2) this disclosure of reality is not a human-directed practice: Humans are driven objects rather than being themselves the active subjects. According to these conclusions, the instrumental and the anthropological definitions of technology do not capture the whole truth of technology. Let us look at these two points in turn, as follows:
- The essence of technology lies, according to Heidegger, in its capacity to disclose reality ( entbergen ) under a very specific, limited perspective. This perspective reduces everything to a potential object for manipulation, a resource ( Bestand ) for further activity. Technology is thus a way to disclose something hidden. Following his analysis of the Greek word for truth ( aletheia ) as referring to something undisclosed, he sees thus a “truth” at work, under which reality presents itself as a mere collection of resources for external purposes, rid of all inner logic and teleology that was so prominent in traditional understandings of nature. Heidegger points at the different ways in which a river is seen by a poet in an artwork ( Kunst werk), on the one hand, and, on the other hand, in which the same river is seen by an engineer as a potential resource for energy generation in a power plant ( Kraft werk).
- Heidegger then goes on to claim that opposed to the image of man being in control of technology and using it for his purposes, he should rather be seen as being provoked ( herausgefordert ) by this coming to pass. Heidegger clearly wants to reject the optimistic idea of “man being in control” through the help of modern technology and, rather, revert it to its opposite: man being driven by a force greater than himself. He calls this driving force the essence of technology, the en-framing ( Ge-stell ) that prompts humans to look at nature under the idea of its usability. In doing so, man is in highest danger, but not because of potential hazards or specific negative consequence of modern technology. The danger is, rather, that he loses sight of understanding nature in a different way and that he might finally end up understanding also himself and other humans only as potential “resources” or potential material for manipulation and instrumentalization. Heidegger suspects that art might be a potential antidote to this development: In Greek, techne originally encompassed also the production of beautiful objects in art. Thus, a deeper understanding of technology might reveal its relation to art and might point to the fact that art offers a potential answer to the challenge that modern technology poses to human self-understanding.
Certainly, Heidegger’s contribution to the modern philosophy of technology lies more in highlighting this essential dimension of technology as a threat, rather than in elaborating strategies to counter these inherent dangers. Heidegger’s article is arguably the single most influential essay written in the philosophy of technology, although his mannered, often dark language allows for different interpretations and often lacks the clarity of philosophical contributions from the analytical school. But the idea that “technology” and technological rationality is a limited form of looking at reality—one that is in strong need of a countervision, and that might further lead to a deformation of intersubjective human relations and that finally affects human self-understanding—has ever since been a prominent topic in different thinkers from Adorno and Marcuse to Jürgen Habermas, as illustrated earlier. This idea has often been linked with an ethical concern: Modern technology calls for new ethical guidelines, and despite some beneficial consequence, poses a potential threat to human existence. Much of this ethical debate about modern technology was triggered by its potential to radically destroy human life, be it through nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons or by consequences of environmental pollution and climate change.
Heidegger’s pupil Hans Jonas (1984) was one of the first philosophers to emphasize the need for a specific “ethics for the age of technology,” feeling that modern technology urges us to radically reconsider our ethical intuitions in order to meet the new challenges. Nevertheless, based on humans’ anthropological need to seek protection against nature, classical technology never fully reached this aim. Nature remained always more powerful than men, and the consequences of human actions were mostly not far-reaching. Traditional ethics could therefore focus on the “near and dear.” Modern technology, however, radically changes the picture: Its scope is unknown in premodern times; its consequences and potential dangers could be fatal, far-reaching, and irreversible. Focusing on the environmental problems of modern societies with, as the darkest perspective, the possible extinction of humankind, Jonas suggests broadening the scope of our ethical obligations: If our actions are more far-reaching than ever before in the history of humankind, we need to acquire a new ethical countervision. Jonas finds this remedy in the anthropological feature of our feelings of responsibility. Responsibility often expresses an asymmetrical relation, as in parents who feel responsible to care for their children. The old ethical intuition to derive obligations from the rights of free and conscious individuals, able to participate in argumentation and democratic decisions, seems to be too narrow to account for most environmental problems: Future generations are not yet born, animals and nature cannot in the same sense be regarded as having rights, as has been established in previous ethical approaches to the idea of universal human rights. But obligations may also stem from the idea of responsibility, from the idea that something has been given into our care.
Analytic philosophy is rooted in the quest for clear conceptualization, sound argumentation, and scientific precision. For early analytical philosophy in the Vienna Circle, the mathematical nature of scientific knowledge could serve as a role model for knowledge as such: hence, the need for and the extended usage of logical formalization within analytic philosophy. Skeptical of the quest to address the essence of things like “the technology” in general, analytic philosophers very often focus on concrete problems linked to very specific technologies. Even though many thinkers in the line of logical positivism thus greeted scientific knowledge as the highest form of knowledge, this did not always lead to an unbalanced embrace of technology. In Bertrand Russell (1951), we find a skeptical attitude toward the social benefits of technology, especially if it is linked with totalitarian ideology. Thus, he stresses the importance of democratic education; if placed in a democratic context and applied in well-defined careful steps, technology is, however, beneficial for progress in a way in which Karl Popper (1957) typically advertises as piecemeal social engineering. Important early contributions to an analytic philosophy of technology stem further from Mario Bunge (1979), whose ideas closely link to the program of logical empiricism and oppose the “romantic wailings about the alleged evils of technology” (p. 68).
Even though this distinction between humanities’ philosophy of technology and engineering’s philosophy of technology (Mitcham, 1994) marks the background of the philosophical discussion on technology in the early 20th century, the debate soon moved beyond this opposition. Three tendencies seem to be of importance.
First, continental philosophy was moving away from the attempt to come up with metaphysical, religious, or anthropological answers to the big questions. With the emergence of postmodernism, the alleged end of the “big stories” was proclaimed, thus making a metaphysical approach less fashionable. Appealing to ontology (as in Heidegger), to metaphysics, or to religious ideals (as in Jonas) seemed less promising. Even though early continental philosophy was very critical with regard to strategic rationality and technology, it has been criticized by postmodernism as not moving radically beyond the central modernistic Western ideal of a rational philosophical synthesis or universal world interpretation.
Second, the focus within the philosophy of technology moved toward a renewed interest in looking at concrete technologies and the challenges they pose for analytical and ethical reflection, a movement that has been called the empirical turn in the philosophy of technology (Kroes, 2001).
Third, different attempts were soon made to bridge the gap between the two camps. In post-world-war Germany, the Society of German Engineers (VDI) established a dialogue about the responsibilities of scientists and engineers, addressing topics and worries of the humanities. The experience of the massive and systematic use of technology for organized mass murder during the holocaust and the development of technology for modern warfare, including the development of the nuclear bomb, raised issues about the responsibilities of engineers. The debate of the VDI meetings resulted in a series of important publications on the philosophy of technology (Rapp, 1981); these must be recognized as an important attempt to synthesize different strands of philosophical thinking, even though it can be asked how far the VDI school was really successful in transcending its engineering-philosophical origins (Mitcham, 1994, p. 71).
Along a similar line, authors have tried to combine the phenomenological approach with American pragmatism, thus bridging insights of a more continental and a more analytical tradition. Common to phenomenology and pragmatism is the idea of the priority of praxis over theory and thus the tendency not to see technology as applied science but, rather, science as a purified or abstract form of (technological) praxis. Following the works of John Dewey, thinkers like Paul T. Durbin (1992), Larry Hickman (1990), and Don Ihde (1979) have tried to establish a pragmatist phenomenological approach to technology. The insights of Don Ihde that each technology either extends human bodily experience (e.g., the microscope) or calls for human interpretations (e.g., the thermometer) are of particular anthropological interest. If technology amplifies our experience, then it always does so at the cost of a reduction: In highlighting or amplifying certain aspects of reality, it makes invisible other aspects of this very same reality (as in an ultrasonic picture) (Ihde, 1979). The way technology thus “mediates” our interpretation of the world, and our actions within it, has been a further object of extended research (e.g., Verbeek, 2005).
A further attempt to bridge humanist and engineering tradition has been made by Carl Mitcham (1994), who nevertheless tries to defend the priority of the humanist perspective, but at the same time develops an analytic framework that should serve for further investigation within the philosophy of technology. He distinguishes among technology as object (tools), as type of knowledge, as activity, and as volition (expression of man’s intention or will). The 1980s and 1990s saw an increased interest, especially in the analyses of the first three aspects of this distinction.
With regard to the fourth aspect, ethical issues have been a central topic for many philosophers of technology, ranging from debates about the responsibility of scientists and engineers, medical and bioethics, business ethics, technology assessment, risk assessment and decision under uncertainty, to environmental ethics. Two of these fields are of particular interest from an anthropological perspective: In environmental ethics, those theories might shed light on anthropological questions seeking to interpret the environmental crisis as essentially rooted in human nature. It has been argued that it is a human tendency to value short-term (individual) interests more highly than long-term (collective) interests, thus putting a pessimistic neo-Hobbesian anthropology in the middle of the debate. According to Garrett Hardin (1968), it is this very human tendency (together with a mismatch in the growth of the human population that exceeds the growth of the supply of the food or other resources) that leads to the “tragedy of the commons.” Research in game theory and environmental sociobiology indicates the possibility of holding a more optimistic view of the development of cooperative strategies in humans (Axelrod, 1984), though the issue is still debated and there is room for a more pessimistic perspective, as has been defended early on by some sociobiologists (Dawkins, 1978) or recently by some philosophers (Gardiner, 2001).
In the ethical debate on transhumanism, finally, many links can be found to classical anthropological questions about the essence of man (e.g., Baillie, 2005; Fukuyama, 2004). The central debated question is whether it is morally allowed, forbidden, or even demanded from us to enhance our human capacities through new technologies, ranging from short-term nonevasive ways (like taking performanceenhancing drugs) to fundamental irreversible changes (like genetic engineering). While bioconservativists argue against an extended usage of enhancement technologies, transhumanists point to the potential benefits of these new options. It is reasonable to assume that these issues will be with us as technology advances and opens new possibilities to alter the human condition. This opens a radical new challenge to anthropology, which until recently dedicated itself to understanding the given human nature, while it now has to face the normative question of which we should choose as our future nature, once technology offers radical new options of changing human nature (e.g., as by slowing down or even stopping the process of aging). It seems that the anthropology of the future must take into consideration, more and more, normative claims and it must reach out to incorporate ethics to prepare itself for the challenges modern technology poses.
Looking at recent tendencies in research, it can be argued that the initial focus on linking technology with a universal, philosophical anthropological vision, also rooted in biological knowledge, was one of the key achievements of early philosophical anthropology in the works of Gehlen and others. What made these anthropologies remarkable was their attempt to bring together the different traditions of anthropological thought, ranging from philosophy to sociology and biology. A turn toward a more social perspective was established first by Gehlen himself, the Frankfurt school, and later STS studies, sometimes leading away from or even lacking both an underlying philosophical vision and an interest in our biological nature. Very recently, however, sociologists and philosophers have shown an increased interest in biology (as is visible in the ever-growing numbers of publications in sociobiology and the philosophy of biology). This increased attention has not yet led to a revival of an interest in the links between anthropology and technology. But in order to understand man—both in his evolutionary origins and (maybe even more) in his current historical situation—it seems to demand attention to man’s amazing capacity to develop technology.
It can reasonably be argued that what is thus needed is a new vision of how to synthesize the different fields of biological, social, and cultural anthropology. It seems that after the empirical turn to gather extended details over the biological and social aspects of technology, there is now a call for a new philosophical turn, seeking a new discourse synthesis. Many classical questions of anthropology will tend to remain unanswered, if academic research remains focused only on disciplinary perspectives, which always look at only a part of the whole picture. It is certainly true that man is a social animal, that he has biological roots and that he can ask ethical and philosophical questions about the good and about his place in this universe. The disciplinary separations in biology, sociology, and philosophy (to name just a few) tend, however, to distract from the fact that man in reality is a unity, meaning that a true answer to the most fundamental question of anthropology (What is man?) calls for a plausible combination of these approaches. To synthesize the different aspects of our knowledge about our own human nature is certainly far from being an easy task, but it seems more needed than ever.
But if this is not yet a big enough challenge, there is even a second aspect that makes the quest for a synthesis even more challenging. It seems that a new anthropological vision of humankind must answer a question that classical anthropology has not been dealing with: If technology soon allows us to alter our very nature, then we must know not only what the human condition is, but also what the human condition should be.
Ethics might again enter anthropological reflection, as has been hinted at already by early thinkers such as Scheler and Jonas. Recent attempts to place man in the middle of both a normative vision of ideals, on the one side, and against a profound overview of our descriptive knowledge about our essence, on the other side (as in the voluminous attempt at a synthesis in Hösle, 2004), deserve attention, as they might be the first steps toward a renewed synthetic anthropology that tries to bridge the gaps among the different disciplines. A deepened understanding of technology must be a central part of these efforts, since the way we use tools and produce artifacts is one of the remarkable features of humankind—a feature in much need of guidance by descriptive knowledge and ethical wisdom, especially in our age in which technology (of which humans have been the subject) is about to discover the condition humana as its potential object in a way more radical than ever before.
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The inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it
Exclusive conversations that take us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon.
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When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, with zero fanfare, in late November 2022, the San Francisco–based artificial-intelligence company had few expectations. Certainly, nobody inside OpenAI was prepared for a viral mega-hit . The firm has been scrambling to catch up—and capitalize on its success—ever since.
It was viewed in-house as a “research preview,” says Sandhini Agarwal, who works on policy at OpenAI: a tease of a more polished version of a two-year-old technology and, more important, an attempt to iron out some of its flaws by collecting feedback from the public. “We didn’t want to oversell it as a big fundamental advance,” says Liam Fedus, a scientist at OpenAI who worked on ChatGPT.
To get the inside story behind the chatbot—how it was made, how OpenAI has been updating it since release, and how its makers feel about its success—I talked to four people who helped build what has become one of the most popular internet apps ever . In addition to Agarwal and Fedus, I spoke to John Schulman, a cofounder of OpenAI, and Jan Leike, the leader of OpenAI’s alignment team, which works on the problem of making AI do what its users want it to do (and nothing more).
What I came away with was the sense that OpenAI is still bemused by the success of its research preview, but has grabbed the opportunity to push this technology forward, watching how millions of people are using it and trying to fix the worst problems as they come up.
Since November, OpenAI has already updated ChatGPT several times. The researchers are using a technique called adversarial training to stop ChatGPT from letting users trick it into behaving badly (known as jailbreaking). This work pits multiple chatbots against each other: one chatbot plays the adversary and attacks another chatbot by generating text to force it to buck its usual constraints and produce unwanted responses. Successful attacks are added to ChatGPT’s training data in the hope that it learns to ignore them.
OpenAI has also signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft and announced an alliance with Bain , a global management consulting firm, which plans to use OpenAI’s generative AI models in marketing campaigns for its clients, including Coca-Cola. Outside OpenAI, the buzz about ChatGPT has set off yet another gold rush around large language models, with companies and investors worldwide getting into the action.
That’s a lot of hype in three short months. Where did ChatGPT come from? What steps did OpenAI take to ensure it was ready to release? And where are they going next?
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Jan Leike: It’s been overwhelming, honestly. We’ve been surprised, and we’ve been trying to catch up.
John Schulman: I was checking Twitter a lot in the days after release, and there was this crazy period where the feed was filling up with ChatGPT screenshots. I expected it to be intuitive for people, and I expected it to gain a following, but I didn’t expect it to reach this level of mainstream popularity.
Sandhini Agarwal: I think it was definitely a surprise for all of us how much people began using it. We work on these models so much, we forget how surprising they can be for the outside world sometimes.
Liam Fedus : We were definitely surprised how well it was received. There have been so many prior attempts at a general-purpose chatbot that I knew the odds were stacked against us. However, our private beta had given us confidence that we had something that people might really enjoy.
Jan Leike: I would love to understand better what’s driving all of this—what’s driving the virality. Like, honestly, we don’t understand. We don’t know.
Part of the team’s puzzlement comes from the fact that most of the technology inside ChatGPT isn’t new. ChatGPT is a fine-tuned version of GPT-3.5, a family of large language models that OpenAI released months before the chatbot. GPT-3.5 is itself an updated version of GPT-3 , which appeared in 2020. The company makes these models available on its website as application programming interfaces, or APIs, which make it easy for other software developers to plug models into their own code. OpenAI also released a previous fine-tuned version of GPT-3.5, called InstructGPT , in January 2022. But none of these previous versions of the tech were pitched to the public.
Liam Fedus: The ChatGPT model is fine-tuned from the same language model as InstructGPT, and we used a similar methodology for fine-tuning it. We had added some conversational data and tuned the training process a bit. So we didn’t want to oversell it as a big fundamental advance. As it turned out, the conversational data had a big positive impact on ChatGPT.
John Schulman: The raw technical capabilities, as assessed by standard benchmarks, don’t actually differ substantially between the models, but ChatGPT is more accessible and usable.
Jan Leike: In one sense you can understand ChatGPT as a version of an AI system that we’ve had for a while. It’s not a fundamentally more capable model than what we had previously. The same basic models had been available on the API for almost a year before ChatGPT came out. In another sense, we made it more aligned with what humans want to do with it. It talks to you in dialogue, it’s easily accessible in a chat interface, it tries to be helpful. That’s amazing progress, and I think that’s what people are realizing.
John Schulman: It more readily infers intent. And users can get to what they want by going back and forth.
ChatGPT was trained in a very similar way to InstructGPT, using a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). This is ChatGPT’s secret sauce. The basic idea is to take a large language model with a tendency to spit out anything it wants—in this case, GPT-3.5—and tune it by teaching it what kinds of responses human users actually prefer.
Jan Leike: We had a large group of people read ChatGPT prompts and responses, and then say if one response was preferable to another response. All of this data then got merged into one training run. Much of it is the same kind of thing as what we did with InstructGPT. You want it to be helpful, you want it to be truthful, you want it to be—you know—nontoxic. And then there are things that are specific to producing dialogue and being an assistant: things like, if the user’s query isn’t clear, it should ask follow-up questions. It should also clarify that it’s an AI system. It should not assume an identity that it doesn’t have, it shouldn’t claim to have abilities that it doesn’t possess, and when a user asks it to do tasks that it’s not supposed to do, it has to write a refusal message. One of the lines that emerged in this training was “As a language model trained by OpenAI …” It wasn’t explicitly put in there, but it’s one of the things the human raters ranked highly.
Sandhini Agarwal: Yeah, I think that’s what happened. There was a list of various criteria that the human raters had to rank the model on, like truthfulness. But they also began preferring things that they considered good practice, like not pretending to be something that you’re not.
Because ChatGPT had been built using the same techniques OpenAI had used before, the team did not do anything different when preparing to release this model to the public. They felt the bar they’d set for previous models was sufficient.
Sandhini Agarwal: When we were preparing for release, we didn’t think of this model as a completely new risk. GPT-3.5 had been out there in the world, and we know that it’s already safe enough. And through ChatGPT’s training on human preferences, the model just automatically learned refusal behavior, where it refuses a lot of requests.
Jan Leike: We did do some additional “red-teaming” for ChatGPT, where everybody at OpenAI sat down and tried to break the model. And we had external groups doing the same kind of thing. We also had an early-access program with trusted users, who gave feedback.
Sandhini Agarwal: We did find that it generated certain unwanted outputs, but they were all things that GPT-3.5 also generates. So in terms of risk, as a research preview—because that’s what it was initially intended to be—it felt fine.
John Schulman: You can’t wait until your system is perfect to release it. We had been beta-testing the earlier versions for a few months, and the beta testers had positive impressions of the product. Our biggest concern was around factuality, because the model likes to fabricate things. But InstructGPT and other large language models are already out there, so we thought that as long as ChatGPT is better than those in terms of factuality and other issues of safety, it should be good to go. Before launch we confirmed that the models did seem a bit more factual and safe than other models, according to our limited evaluations, so we decided to go ahead with the release.
OpenAI has been watching how people use ChatGPT since its launch, seeing for the first time how a large language model fares when put into the hands of tens of millions of users who may be looking to test its limits and find its flaws. The team has tried to jump on the most problematic examples of what ChatGPT can produce—from songs about God’s love for rapist priests to malware code that steals credit card numbers—and use them to rein in future versions of the model.
Sandhini Agarwal: We have a lot of next steps. I definitely think how viral ChatGPT has gotten has made a lot of issues that we knew existed really bubble up and become critical—things we want to solve as soon as possible. Like, we know the model is still very biased. And yes, ChatGPT is very good at refusing bad requests, but it’s also quite easy to write prompts that make it not refuse what we wanted it to refuse.
Liam Fedus: It’s been thrilling to watch the diverse and creative applications from users, but we’re always focused on areas to improve upon. We think that through an iterative process where we deploy, get feedback, and refine, we can produce the most aligned and capable technology. As our technology evolves, new issues inevitably emerge.
Sandhini Agarwal: In the weeks after launch, we looked at some of the most terrible examples that people had found, the worst things people were seeing in the wild. We kind of assessed each of them and talked about how we should fix it.
Jan Leike: Sometimes it’s something that’s gone viral on Twitter, but we have some people who actually reach out quietly.
Sandhini Agarwal: A lot of things that we found were jailbreaks, which is definitely a problem we need to fix. But because users have to try these convoluted methods to get the model to say something bad, it isn’t like this was something that we completely missed, or something that was very surprising for us. Still, that’s something we’re actively working on right now. When we find jailbreaks, we add them to our training and testing data. All of the data that we’re seeing feeds into a future model.
Jan Leike: Every time we have a better model, we want to put it out and test it. We’re very optimistic that some targeted adversarial training can improve the situation with jailbreaking a lot. It’s not clear whether these problems will go away entirely, but we think we can make a lot of the jailbreaking a lot more difficult. Again, it’s not like we didn’t know that jailbreaking was possible before the release. I think it’s very difficult to really anticipate what the real safety problems are going to be with these systems once you’ve deployed them. So we are putting a lot of emphasis on monitoring what people are using the system for, seeing what happens, and then reacting to that. This is not to say that we shouldn’t proactively mitigate safety problems when we do anticipate them. But yeah, it is very hard to foresee everything that will actually happen when a system hits the real world.
In January, Microsoft revealed Bing Chat, a search chatbot that many assume to be a version of OpenAI’s officially unannounced GPT-4. (OpenAI says: “Bing is powered by one of our next-generation models that Microsoft customized specifically for search. It incorporates advancements from ChatGPT and GPT-3.5.”) The use of chatbots by tech giants with multibillion-dollar reputations to protect creates new challenges for those tasked with building the underlying models.
Sandhini Agarwal: The stakes right now are definitely a lot higher than they were, say, six months ago, but they’re still lower than where they might be a year from now. One thing that obviously really matters with these models is the context they’re being used in. Like with Google and Microsoft, even one thing not being factual became such a big issue because they’re meant to be search engines. The required behavior of a large language model for something like search is very different than for something that’s just meant to be a playful chatbot. We need to figure out how we walk the line between all these different uses, creating something that’s useful for people across a range of contexts, where the desired behavior might really vary. That adds more pressure. Because we now know that we are building these models so that they can be turned into products. ChatGPT is a product now that we have the API. We’re building this general-purpose technology and we need to make sure that it works well across everything. That is one of the key challenges that we face right now.
John Schulman : I underestimated the extent to which people would probe and care about the politics of ChatGPT. We could have potentially made some better decisions when collecting training data, which would have lessened this issue. We’re working on it now.
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The Top 10 Most Interesting Technology Research Topics
With technological innovation streamlining processes in businesses at all levels and customers opting for digital interaction, adopting modern technologies have become critical for success in all industries. Technology continues to positively impact organizations , according to Statista, which is why technology research topics have become common among college-level students.
In this article, we have hand-picked the best examples of technology research topics and technology research questions to help you choose a direction to focus your research efforts. These technology research paper topics will inspire you to consider new ways to analyze technology and its evolving role in today’s world.
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What Makes a Strong Technology Research Topic?
A strong research topic is clear, relevant, and original. It should intrigue readers to learn more about the role of technology through your research paper. A successful research topic meets the requirements of the assignment and isn’t too broad or narrow.
Technology research topics must identify a broad area of research on technologies, so an extremely technical topic can be overwhelming to write. Your technology research paper topic should be suitable for the academic level of your audience.
Tips for Choosing a Technology Research Topic
- Make sure it’s clear. Select a research topic with a clear main idea that you can explain in simple language. It should be able to capture the attention of the audience and keep them engaged in your research paper.
- Make sure it’s relevant. The technology research paper topic should be relevant to the understanding and academic level of the readers. It should enhance their knowledge of a specific technological topic, instead of simply providing vague, directionless ideas about different types of technologies.
- Employ approachable language. Even though you might be choosing a topic from complex technology research topics, the language should be simple. It can be field-specific, but the technical terms used must be basic and easy to understand for the readers.
- Discuss innovations. New technologies get introduced frequently, which adds to the variety of technology research paper topics. Your research topic shouldn’t be limited to old or common technologies. Along with the famous technologies, it should include evolving technologies and introduce them to the audience.
- Be creative . With the rapid growth of technological development, some technology research topics have become increasingly common. It can be challenging to be creative with a topic that has been exhausted through numerous research papers. Your research topic should provide unique information to the audience, which can attract them to your work.
What’s the Difference Between a Research Topic and a Research Question?
A research topic is a subject or a problem being studied by a researcher. It is the foundation of any research paper that sets the tone of the research. It should be broad with a wide range of information available for conducting research.
On the other hand, a research question is closely related to the research topic and is addressed in the study. The answer is formed through data analysis and interpretation. It is more field-specific and directs the research paper toward a specific aspect of a broad subject.
How to Create Strong Technology Research Questions
Technology research questions should be concise, specific, and original while showing a connection to the technology research paper topic. It should be researchable and answerable through analysis of a problem or issue. Make sure it is easy to understand and write within the given word limit and timeframe of the research paper.
Technology is an emerging field with several areas of study, so a strong research question is based on a specific part of a large technical field. For example, many technologies are used in branches of healthcare such as genetics and DNA. Therefore, a research paper about genetics technology should feature a research question that is exclusive to genetics technology only.
Top 10 Technology Research Paper Topics
1. the future of computer-assisted education.
The world shifted to digital learning in the last few years. Students were using the Internet to take online classes, online exams, and courses. Some people prefer distance learning courses over face-to-face classes now, as they only require modern technologies like laptops, mobile phones, and the Internet to study, complete assignments, and even attend lectures.
The demand for digital learning has increased, and it will be an essential part of the education system in the coming years. As a result of the increasing demand, the global digital learning market is expecting a growth of about 110 percent by 2026 .
2. Children’s Use of Social Media
Nowadays, parents allow their children to use the Internet from a very young age. A recent poll by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital reported that 32 percent of parents allow their children aged seven to nine to use social media sites. This can expose them to cyber bullying and age-inappropriate content, as well as increase their dependence on technology.
Kids need to engage in physical activities and explore the world around them. Using social media sites in childhood can be negative for their personalities and brain health. Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the use of technology among young children can create an interesting research paper.
3. The Risks of Digital Voting
Digital voting is an easy way of casting and counting votes. It can save the cost and time associated with traveling to the polling station and getting a postal vote. However, it has a different set of security challenges. A research paper can list the major election security risks caused by digital voting.
Voting in an online format can expose your personal information and decisions to a hacker. As no computer device or software is completely unhackable, the voting system can be taken down, or the hacking may even go undetected.
4. Technology’s Impact on Society in 20 Years
Technological development has accelerated in the last decade. Current technology trends in innovation are focusing on artificial intelligence development, machine learning, and the development and implementation of robots.
Climate change has affected both human life and animal life. Climate technology can be used to deal with global warming in the coming years, and digital learning can make education available for everyone. This technology research paper can discuss the positive and negative effects of technology in 20 years.
5. The Reliability of Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars are one of the most exciting trends in technology today. It is a major technology of the future and one of the controversial technology topics. It is considered safer than human driving, but there are some risks involved. For example, edge cases are still common to experience while driving.
Edge cases are occasional and unpredictable situations that may lead to accidents and injuries. It includes difficult weather conditions, objects or animals on the road, and blocked roads. Self-driving cars may struggle to respond to edge cases appropriately, requiring the driver to employ common sense to handle the situation.
6. The Impact of Technology on Infertility
Assisted reproductive technology (ART) helps infertile couples get pregnant. It employs infertility techniques such as In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT).
Infertility technologies are included in the controversial technology topics because embryonic stem cell research requires extracted human embryos. So, the research can be considered unethical. It is an excellent research topic from the reproductive technology field.
7. Evolution of War Technology
Military technologies have improved throughout history. Modern technologies, such as airplanes, missiles, nuclear reactors, and drones, are essential for war management. Countries experience major innovation in technologies during wars to fulfill their military-specific needs.
Military technologies have controversial ideas and debates linked to them, as some people believe that it plays a role in wars. A research paper on war technology can help evaluate the role of technology in warfare.
8. Using Technology to Create Eco-Friendly Food Packaging
Food technologies and agricultural technologies are trying to manage climate change through eco-friendly food packaging. The materials used are biodegradable, sustainable, and have inbuilt technology that kills microbes harmful to human life.
Research on eco-friendly food packaging can discuss the ineffectiveness of current packaging strategies. The new food technologies used for packaging can be costly, but they are better for preserving foods and the environment.
9. Disease Diagnostics and Therapeutics Through DNA Cloning
Genetic engineering deals with genes and uses them as diagnostics and therapeutics. DNA cloning creates copies of genes or parts of DNA to study different characteristics. The findings are used for diagnosing different types of cancers and even hematological diseases.
Genetic engineering is also used for therapeutic cloning, which clones an embryo for studying diseases and treatments. DNA technology, gene editing, gene therapy, and similar topics are hot topics in technology research papers.
10. Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health Care
Mental health is a widely discussed topic around the world, making it perfect for technology research topics. The mental health care industry has more recently been using artificial intelligence tools and mental health technology like chatbots and virtual assistants to connect with patients.
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Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. It can help a health care provider with monitoring patient progress and assigning the right therapist based on provided data and information.
Other Examples of Technology Research Topics & Questions
Technology research topics.
- The connection between productivity and the use of digital tools
- The importance of medical technologies in the next years
- The consequences of addiction to technology
- The negative impact of social media
- The rise and future of blockchain technology
Technology Research Questions
- Is using technology in college classrooms a good or bad idea?
- What are the advantages of cloud technologies for pharmaceutical companies?
- Can new technologies help in treating morbid obesity?
- How to identify true and false information on social media
- Why is machine learning the future?
Choosing the Right Technology Research Topic
Since technology is a diverse field, it can be challenging to choose an interesting technology research topic. It is crucial to select a good research topic for a successful research paper. Any research is centered around the research topic, so it’s important to pick one carefully.
From cell phones to self-driving cars, technological development has completely transformed the world. It offers a wide range of topics to research, resulting in numerous options to choose from. We have compiled technology research topics from a variety of fields. You should select a topic that interests you, as you will be spending weeks researching and writing about it.
Technology Research Topics FAQ
Technology is important in education because it allows people to access educational opportunities globally through mobile technologies and the Internet. Students can enroll in online college degrees , courses, and attend online coding bootcamps . Technology has also made writing research papers easier with the tremendous amount of material available online.
Yes, technology can take over jobs as robotics and automation continue to evolve. However, the management of these technologies will still require human employees with technical backgrounds, such as artificial intelligence specialists, data scientists , and cloud engineers.
Solar panels and wind turbines are two forms of technology that help with climate change, as they convert energy efficiently without emitting greenhouse gases. Electric bikes run on lithium batteries and only take a few hours to charge, which makes them environmentally friendly. Carbon dioxide captures are a way of removing CO 2 from the atmosphere and storing it deep underground.
Technology helps companies manage client and employee data, store and protect important information, and develop strategies to stay ahead of competitors. Marketing technologies, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), are great for attracting customers online.
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10 Most Interesting Technology Research Topics
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- Research topics guide a student's studies within a broader academic field.
- To create a successful research paper, identify a research topic and research question.
- Some relevant technology research topics include online education, medical technology, and digital voting.
A research topic is an idea a researcher has when preparing to conduct an experiment. A research project is the testing of this topic and is often used for academic or professional purposes. These can help you start down a new career path or uncover the deep secrets of the universe!
Research topics complement what you learn in the classroom. These assignments allow students to explore their individual passions within the realm of the course subject. Research papers require organization, thoughtful discussion of complex ideas, and effective written communication. Even if you've never been formally asked to write a research paper , you might be required to present your work to a professor or employer.
If you crave conducting experiments or exploring unknown realms of tech, then you may have considered conducting a research project. This article gives an overview of how to structure a research topic, and we found ten unique inspirations for tech-related topics.
What Is a Research Topic Used For?
Research topics allow scholars and students to expand their studies. From history to math to art, there is more knowledge in any field of study than one person can possibly learn. Research topics allow you to hone in on one aspect of your subject.
Students in any academic discipline may use research topics. The final product format may vary depending on the subject of study. For example, a biology paper and an English literature paper take different forms based on the conventions of each academic discipline.
By the end of high school, most students have written a research paper and used a research topic. Research papers will be required at some point for college or university students, regardless of their major.
Most often, academia utilizes research topics and questions. Unless you move into a research or academic-based field, it's unlikely you will write a formal research paper at work that includes a research topic and question.
Research Topic vs. Research Question
A research topic is a general category or idea you want to investigate. Research questions are the specific area where you focus your research and writing.
If you study 20th-century history, your research topic might be women's roles during World War II. This topic is broad and covers many experiences. Your research question could be, what role did women play during resistance efforts in occupied France?
The answer to your research question will become your thesis statement, which is typically included at the end of your introductory paragraph. For example: Within the French Resistance movement, women worked in a variety of critical roles, including espionage, forgery, and munitions.
Tips for Researching
Before you commit to a research question, it's a good idea to do some light research. This ensures there is enough information accessible for you to complete your research paper.
When researching any topic, use reputable sources . The Google Scholar search engine utilizes academic and scholarly resources exclusively. Additionally, research librarians assist students and scholars in finding sources at libraries around the world. Lastly, create an outline for your paper. As you gather information, make sure to group the related facts together.
10 Interesting Technology Research Topics
If you are fascinated by technology and want to research a new, unique side of tech, then look no further. We have compiled a list of ten interesting technology research topics for you!
1. COVID-19's Effect on Medical Technology
History shows us that challenges often precede innovation; the COVID-19 pandemic is no different. Medical researchers and scholars may have used the pandemic to direct and advance new technologies.
For example, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) may emerge as a new focus for medical technology. This may allow for better remote medical monitoring and treatment.
Some questions to consider when researching medical tech developments after the start of COVID-19 include, who researches IoMT technology? What are the possible applications? What stage of development is this research in?
2. Online Education's Effect on Learning
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how online learning could be very difficult for students, parents, and teachers. However, there are benefits to online learning. It stands to increase access to education, accommodate varied needs, and more.
In researching online education's effects on learning, consider when online education started and how far it has come since then. What technology has come out of online education? Will online education remain relevant in the next decade? Hint: Most likely.
3. Video Gaming as a Solution to World Problems
When discussing video games, most news coverage highlights only the negative side effects of gaming, such as increased depression, aggression, and addiction.
However, positive outcomes from gaming do exist, including increased reasoning, collaboration, and multicultural communities. Presumably, all these benefits could contribute positively to social problem-solving.
Questions to consider for this topic include: Can video games provide simulations for world problems? Is there a direct connection between gaming and social awareness or community?
4. Children's Use of Technology and Social Media
Research could take this topic in a number of interesting directions. Common topics include screen time, access to inappropriate information on the internet, and device addiction or dependency.
More interesting angles for research might include cultural differences regarding children and technology use or what technology use prepares children best for STEM careers.
Some questions to consider during your research might include: What does medical/scientific research show us regarding children and technology? Why do the effects of tech and social media on children matter?
5. The Pros and Cons of Human Cloning
Cloning seeks to replicate the DNA and function of living beings, including plants, animals, and humans. Currently, no lab has successfully cloned human DNA, despite some claims.
Human cloning has implications we cannot know at this time. Concerns regarding human cloning may parallel those associated with animal cloning, such as decreased life span, increased biological abnormalities, and inefficient production.
When researching human cloning, you may consider the following questions: Why do scientists continue to research human cloning? Which labs or countries are working on human cloning?
6. The Implications of Human Identity Chips
Identity chips can function similarly to a smartphone wallet — they can be used to hold memberships, credit cards, and even health records. However, the ethical implications of this technology embedded in the human body concern many researchers and consumers.
To research this effectively, you'd want to discover how and where identity chips are currently used in humans. Also consider: What laws or regulations exist? What are the ethical concerns?
7. Technology's Effect on Fertility
Still a relatively new field, in vitro fertilization (IVF) continues to benefit from advances in technology. Advances in hardware and microtechnology allow fertility doctors to improve the accuracy of certain procedures. Additionally, new AI software has been released that can more actively predict the health and success of frozen eggs and embryos.
Questions researchers might consider include: How accessible are these IVF technologies? Are there other possibilities for AI or micro technologies related to IVF?
8. The Morality of Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering is a highly controversial topic, particularly regarding human genetic engineering. Even genetic modification of crops has strong proponents and harsh critics. While research continues around human genetic engineering, it is not used outside research labs, nor is it legal to do so in most of the world.
Questions to explore this topic might include: What research on genetic modification is ongoing? What are the proven risks and benefits?
9. Digital Voting Risks and Rewards
As with many digital advances, digital voting increases accessibility but provides security concerns. Making online purchases with a credit card was once viewed as a security risk; now, we don't even think twice about it.
With necessary elections taking place around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital voting may be under consideration again. The security of votes and the recordkeeping processes are vital to the success of digital voting. Alternatively, increased accessibility and participation may occur with digital voting.
10. Genetically Modified Food As a Solution to World Hunger
As discussed earlier, genetically modified (GM) food can be a controversial topic. Using GM crops to reduce world hunger represents a huge benefit to this research. According to the UN, 90% of GM crop farmers live in the developing world.
To deepen an understanding of GM crops, ask yourself: How much data exists? What are the farmers saying? Do GM crops impact ecosystems or the long-term health of the environment? What is the newest research?
Frequently Asked Questions About Technology Research Topics
What style guide is accepted for research topic papers.
We recommend starting with The Modern Language Association (MLA) format or the American Psychology Association (APA) format. If your instructor specifies a different style guide, follow their instructions.
A style guide is the standard format for title pages, page numbering, and research citations. Different academic fields use different style guides for their research papers. Most university libraries feature reputable instructions and style guide tutorials. However, be careful with citation generators, as they are not always accurate.
How do I create a title for my research topic?
A good research title is specific and brief, no longer than 15 words. It conveys the central information of the research paper that follows. Of course, a title requires proper grammar and punctuation. In the title, all words between the first and last word of the title are capitalized except articles (such as in, a, the, etc.).
Academic paper titles rarely include an exclamation point. However, sometimes question marks are appropriate. Questions in titles are often included in subtitles.
Creating your research paper's title is best done at the end of your first draft. You want a full picture and understanding of your research to properly title the paper.
What are the current trending technologies?
Now an integral part of our society, innovations in computer technology evolve quickly. Some trends include datafication, increased computing power, genomics, and artificial intelligence (AI).
For any organization today, data is a vital asset. Data underscores trends and policies across industries. Of course, with the increased use of computers, their abilities need to increase. Developers seek to create faster networks and bigger storage options for digital work.
Technology trends like genomics and AI research focus on exploring new possibilities. Scientists working in genomics look to modify plant, animal, and potentially human DNA. While most people associate AI with robots, the voice-powered devices in your smart home are a more realistic example of AI trends. Researchers continue to refine and develop language and visual recognition of computers.
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The best technology research paper topics.
- Why Choosing a Good Topic Is Key to a Great Essay?
- What Factors Make a Topic Good?
- What is a good topic?
- Checklist for choosing a good essay topic
- Technology Research Paper Topics
- Technology in General
- Reproductive Technologies
- Health Technologies
- Genetic Engineering Technologies
- Computer Science and Robotics
- War Technology
- Technology Research Paper Writing Service
Before you write a research paper, you first need to select what you want to write about. Many factors of your essay will depend on the topic you selected—your thesis statement, the extent of research you need to conduct, the sources you use, and the structure of your paper. A poorly selected topic may prove difficult to handle or may be too easy for your academic level. Here, we’ll guide you through the process of selecting technology research paper topics and give you some suggestions and inspiration for interesting technology topics.
When assigned to write a research paper, you are likely to encounter two scenarios. The first one is when your professor assigns a topic for you to write on. These are usually subject matters that are relevant to the course and are related to one or two learning objectives. Some students prefer this option because it guarantees that the paper’s topic is good and reveals what the professor is expecting. However, this can be quite limiting for some students. The second scenario is when the professor does not assign any for the students. This puts the responsibility of finding a good topic on the student, which can be quite a daunting task for students who do not have much experience writing papers.
Your research topic is a major factor in determining the success of your academic paper. If your focus is too broad, you may not be able to present quality research. Meanwhile, if your focus is too technical for your level, it may become overwhelming to write and you may not be able to present a good quality paper. Papers on technology are notorious for such faults, so you should be careful when selecting a topic about technology for research papers.
Choosing the right topic is the first step toward writing a successful paper. Believe it or not, a “good” topic is not pulled out of thin air. It is developed from a rigorous brainstorming and research process.
You may have been encouraged to write a research paper about a subject that interests you. This is a good starting point because you are likely to be familiar with the topic and know where to start your research. However, this is not the only factor for what makes a topic good. What are these factors?
- It should meet the requirements of your assignment. Research papers may fulfill different purposes. Clarify in your syllabus or with your professor what the purpose of your paper should be and, if you’re unsure, whether your chosen topic meets the said requirements.
- Interesting and relevant. More than being interesting, your research paper topics should be relevant either to current society or to your class. More often than not, making the focus of your essay relevant is a matter of angle or perspective.
- It should be somewhat unique or creative. A lot of technology essay topics have been done over and over again that it’s almost impossible to write a unique angle on it.
- The scope of the topic. You should consider your academic level, the time allotted to write your essay, and the length of your paper when selecting what to write about.
These are the factors that you should consider when choosing what to write about in your essay. In the next section, we will discuss these factors in more detail.
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When choosing your technology topic, ask yourself if it meets these requirements. Remember that the frame or perspective of a research question could turn a potentially boring topic into a good one for a research paper. Here are the characteristics of a good research topic:
- Meets the requirements of the assignment. During the selection process, you should consider the learning objectives and the intended purpose of the assignment. Are you required to review empirical literature, compare and contrast, or conduct an in-depth analysis? Ask yourself if your focus will allow you to meet these requirements.
- Interesting. The focus of your paper should be interesting for you. You should be willing to spend hours reading about this subject matter. If you are passionate about the focus of your essay, then all the better.
- Relevant. When you are selecting the focus of your paper, you should consider its relevance to the class or course and to the current time. A good thing to consider is whether your focus would add value to current readers’ lives apart from adding to their knowledge.
- Unique and creative angle. The need to write about a unique subject matter is imperative for postgraduate students writing their thesis or dissertation. For research papers, however, it is not required to look into research gaps. Instead, you need to find an issue or problem that has not been exhausted. You should also consider if you are presenting a new angle or perspective on the matter.
- Not too broad, not too narrow in scope. The scope of your research paper should be narrow enough for the length of your paper and the professor’s expectations. Gauge if you will be able to discuss everything you need within the prescribed number of pages or if you can substantially fill in the required number of pages with your chosen focus. You don’t want to write on a topic about an extremely technical aspect of genetic engineering, for example, for a 3-page paper for a freshman-level biology class. Be realistic about the scope of your research paper.
Does your technology research topic meet these requirements? Perhaps it only needs a few tweaks to be transformed from ‘meh’ to great. If you’re still unsure, let our professional writers look into your topic and refine it as necessary.
Much like writing a paper, choosing a good essay topic involves a process. Following this process should help you find good technology related topics for your academic paper efficiently.
- Understand the instructions . Do not just dive into researching topics for your research papers. Take the time to read the instructions and truly understand what the assignment is about. You may opt to write down a summary of the requirements so that you don’t lose track of them.
- Browsing and brainstorming . Look into your syllabus, your reading materials, as well as publications related to the subject area you are writing about. You may also utilize Google Scholar and Google News to find the most relevant discussions in technology at the moment. Observe what current articles are about and write down the ones you find most interesting. These may also serve as your sources later on, so be sure to evaluate your sources .
- Background research . Once you have selected your potential topics, start reading more about them. Reading more about each focus will help you gauge which ones you can handle best and develop good research questions. Once you know more about these topics, you may decide what you want your paper to focus on.
- Narrowing down your focus . After you have settled on your broad topic, it is time to narrow down its focus. A good way to do this is by brainstorming through a word map wherein you write down all concepts or ideas related to your main topic. You can choose your focus from there.
- Develop your research question . Using information from your preliminary research, start constructing research questions about the technology topic you chose. Your research question will determine your approach to the subject matter, so remember the requirements of your assignment.
- Conduct further research . With your research question constructed, conduct further, more targeted research. This will help you determine if you will be able to address your research question. If you find that the research question is too broad or too difficult, you may tweak it by returning to your word map.
After these six steps, you are done with your topic selection. You may continue with writing the thesis statement or await your professor’s approval. Check out the next steps after topic selection for writing a research paper .
Here are starter ideas for your paper on technology. You will find a wide range of topics here, from internet research topics to more technical ones like genetic engineering and information technology research topics.
- The most important technological development in the 21st century
- How has online education shaped the way children learn?
- Data privacy implications of Internet censorship
- The future of Internet of Things
- Influence of technology on mental health
- The dangers of social media addiction
- Impact of social media on politics
- Why we haven’t shifted to solar energy yet
- Are bioplastics better for the environment?
- How bad is climate change at the moment?
- Children’s use of technology
- Comparison of bio-diesel cars and electric cars
- The ethics of offspring selection
- Savior siblings: ethical or unethical?
- The effectiveness of various reproductive technologies
- Risks associated with assisted reproductive technology
- How genetic testing can improve health
- Fertility preservation techniques
- Is genetic selection playing god?
- Should reproduction technologies be regulated?
- Use of bone marrow to determine fertility
- Causes and cures for infertility
- The impact of telehealth on healthcare delivery
- The rise of robotic surgery
- Organic food versus genetically-modified food
- Applications of augmented reality in medicine
- Can wearable technologies improve healthcare
- Vaccine development, testing, and regulation
- Can electronic prescribing prevent drug misuse?
- Pros and cons of medical RFID
- Data privacy and security in telemedicine
- Challenges in phenotypic screening in drug discovery
- Pros and cons of identity chip implants
- Consequences of GMO for biodiversity
- Should genetic engineering be used to save endangered species?
- Micro-packaging as the future of packaging technology
- Pros and cons of water-soluble packaging
- CRISPR: Opportunities and limitations for cancer treatment
- The influence of genetics on sexuality
- The importance of stem cell research
- Stem cell therapy for autism: Real or false hope
- Ethical issues surrounding use of stem cell therapy for autism
- Regenerating human limbs: will it be a reality in our lifetime?
- Are self-driven cars safe
- Advantages and disadvantages of smart cities
- Pros and cons of industrial automation
- The future of business with IOT
- How Artificial Intelligence can fight misinformation in the internet age
- Pros and cons of using AI for crime forecasting
- Racism and Artificial Intelligence
- Are there any implications on the global economy brought about by globalization through technology?
- Do digital tools truly instigate productivity?
- Who has the right to information on genetic testing? Should healthcare companies and employers be given access to that information or should they remain confidential?
- Pros and cons of cloud storage
- How can computer programmers be able to protect a device, especially with the rise of open-source?
- Can big data and bioinformatics affect biology?
- Can virtualization trigger change in entertainment?
- Risks and opportunities of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
- How AI can change modern warfare
- Uses of Augmented Reality to military training
- Evolution of war technology
- Recent advances in bioweapons and their implications
- War technology and international relations
- The roles and limitations of technology in counterinsurgency efforts
- Technologies that transformed warfare
- The threat of nuclear weapons in the 21st century
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The extent to which human intelligence has carried civilization is absolutely mind-boggling. The pace in which technology continues to top itself each passing day defies description, let alone formal written research. Students are often stuck in choosing a topic from a long list of subjects. That is because simultaneous with the technology's rapid flourishing is the steadily increasing physical and mental toll of academics on students. We at CustomEssayMeister are aware of such stress, and thus, our academic writing service is tailored to your needs. In the form of A+ quality, 100% original custom written papers on technology, students like you need not prolong the agony. Custom essays, custom research papers, and custom term papers, theses, dissertations, even business papers, you name it, our professional writers can accomplish it. Do yourself a favor and live a more productive, worry-free campus life. Send us a message for any inquiries. Feel free to place an order if time is no longer on your side.
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Germany Planning to Ban Huawei, ZTE From Parts of 5G Networks -Paper
Visitors walk past the Huawei logo at the World Artificial Intelligence Cannes Festival (WAICF) in Cannes, France, February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard Reuters
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's government is planning on forbidding telecoms operators from using certain components from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in their 5G networks, German paper Zeit Online wrote on Monday.
The ban could include components already built into the networks, requiring operators to remove and replace them, Zeit Online wrote, citing government sources.
The government, which is currently in the midst of a broader re-evaluation of its relationship with top trade partner China, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Critics of Huawei and ZTE say that their close links to China’s security services mean that embedding it in the ubiquitous mobile networks of the future could give Chinese spies and even saboteurs access to swathes of essential infrastructure.
Huawei, ZTE and the Chinese government reject these claims, saying that they are motivated by a protectionist desire to support non-Chinese rivals. They did not immediately reply to a request for comment on a possible ban.
Germany passed an IT security law in 2021 setting high hurdles for makers of telecommunications equipment for next-generation networks, but stopping short of banning Huawei and ZTE as some other countries have done.
A new report shows that Germany has actually become even more dependent on Huawei for its 5G radio access network equipment (RAN) than in its 4G network, even though operators have avoided using the firm's technology for the core networks.
Zeit Online said the government's cybersecurity agency and interior ministry had for months been checking if there were components in the growing 5G networks that could put German security at risk.
The survey had not officially been ended, but the result was already clear, the paper said, citing government sources. The government would ban operators from using certain controlling elements from Huawei and ZTE in 5G networks.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Christian Ruettger;Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters .
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Educational technology research and development
A bi-monthly publication of the Association for Educational Communications & Technology
Educational Technology Research and Development is the only scholarly journal in the field focusing entirely on research and development in educational technology.
The Research Section assigns highest priority in reviewing manuscripts to rigorous original quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods studies on topics relating to applications of technology or instructional design in educational settings. Such contexts include K-12, higher education, and adult learning (e.g., in corporate training settings). Analytical papers that evaluate important research issues related to educational technology research and reviews of the literature on similar topics are also published. This section features well-documented articles on the practical aspects of research as well as applied theory in educational practice and provides a comprehensive source of current research information in instructional technology.
The Development Section publishes research on planning, implementation, evaluation and management of a variety of instructional technologies and learning environments. Empirically based formative evaluations and theoretically based instructional design research papers are welcome, as are papers that report outcomes of innovative approaches in applying technology to instructional development. Papers for the Development section may involve a variety of research methods and should focus on one aspect of the instructional development process or more; when relevant and possible, papers should discuss the implications of instructional design decisions and provide evidence linking outcomes to those decisions.
The Cultural and Regional Perspectives Section (formerly International Review ) welcome s innovative research about how technologies are being used to enhance learning, instruction, and performance specific to a culture or region. Educational technology studies submitted to this section should be situated in cultural contexts that critically examine issues and ideologies prevalent in the culture or region or by individuals or groups in the culture or region. Theoretical perspectives can be broadly based and inclusive of research, such as critical race theory, cultural-historical activity theory, and cultural models. Papers published in this section include quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods articles and reviews drawing on relevant theories, empirical evidence, and critical analyses of the findings, implications, and conclusions within a cultural context.
- The only scholarly journal for the field focusing entirely on research and development in educational technology
- Research Section features well documented articles on the practical aspects of research as well as applied theory in educational practice, a comprehensive source of current research information in instructional technology
- Development Section publishes articles concerned with the design and development of learning systems and educational technology applications
- 91% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again
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Research Paper on Technology
Over the past decade, new technologies have come about having astronomically powerful impact on the economy. The leaps and bounds that the technology industry has taken weren’t always for the better. The downsides to all of these victories in man vs. machine have come with their problems and a price. These downfalls are far from over and we can expect a global conflict at the hands of technology in the near future. Technology has been used as a theft device in many respects, from jobs to copyrighted property. With unrestricted sources such as the internet, the ways to slow down this moral massacre are few and far between.
Many companies fear technology more than they embrace it. Taking the giant leap into the twenty-first century has frightened some veteran companies to enough to keep them from attempting anything as simple as a corporate website. In 1999, there were over 4,000 lawsuits against technologies. All of these claims were staked on the theory that these new technologies were a threat to the companies’ clients and profits (Economic Evaluation).
Such technologies included handheld devices for stock market observation or software that stored passwords to important restricted files. Devices such as these were originally designed to simplify the process of purchasing and trading stocks. Like-wise, such programs were developed to quicken access to files that may be time-crucial in monetary factors (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission).
Morality can also be weighed in as a large factor in the decision to integrate newer technologies into your personal corporate empire. Many business owners in their middle ages feel it down-right immoral to recruit machines as field workers (Atlas of U.S. Economy). A product still in beta-stage is one of a new breed of concepts. It is considered part of a new line of ‘smart technologies.’ This particular device has its user fill out a list of preferences and once completed, it acts as its user’s stock broker. It does all the bidding necessary according to its owner’s financial position and risk-taking preferences. However, this device may remain unreleased longer than originally anticipated due to strong protests by professional stock brokers and financial conservatives alike (Hugh Watson).
White-collar jobs aren’t the only district of profession that have been and will continue to be greatly affected by new technologies. The music industry has grown by leaps and bounds, especially in the last two years, with the advancement of a technology known as pro-tools. Pro-tools allow you to digitally record, edit, and duplicate your own music into a professional sounding project. Digital cut and paste techniques have simplified the recording process by enabling audio enhancements that older recording engineers would salivate over (Kelin J. Kuhn). The use of pro tools can turn any aspiring garage musician into the next record chart topper by opening the doors to any within a middle-class budget. However, many feel that this is perhaps a door that should have remained closed to these new arrivals. These technologies make much of the talent once needed to create these aural masterpieces obsolete (Impact Fall).
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Even communication has been revolutionized time and time again by today’s advancements. The ever-growing fad of cell phones manages to multiply itself at an incredible rate year after year. With their introduction to society in the 1980’s, cell phones were rarely used. They were bulky and considerably expensive to maintain. Twenty years later, that same concept built off the idea of mobile communication can not only be found in the hands of corporate executives, but the children of part-time dishwashers. The resources needed to obtain and activate a cell phone have drastically decreased and continue to do so as the technology becomes more and more available (James M. O’Neill). Headset devices and microphones simplify the already childishly easy protocol of talking on the cell phone by freeing up the speaker’s hands. Around the bend for this phenomenon is a headset and microphone much like the ones available now, difference being the lack of central device. The actual phone part of this pocket communication network will but cut out all together. The receiver for the orbiting satellites will be in the earpiece of the device and dialing will be voice activated. The only thing keeping this advancement from release is a potential health risk that is still being investigated by health boards from possible radiation leaking from the receiver which would be located right next to the aural cavity (Kelin J. Kuhn).
Perhaps in the most literal interpretation of theft, piracy is a fast-growing phenomenon among adults and children alike. A face the music industry would like to (but never will) soon forget is that of a man named Shawn Fanning. Shawn Fanning created a program named Napster named after a nickname given to him by his friends. Napster made it possible for users to ‘share’ music files on their computer with other people simply by putting it in a folder that could be browsed by another computer outside the LAN. This angered many artists including a man named Lars Ulrich. Ulrich best known as the drummer for Metallica, sued Fanning and several frequent Napster users for illegally downloading Metallica MP3 files. This spelled the end for Napster. This pioneer gnutella program would eventually release a subscription version of its originally free program. However this release went ignored by a public now hooked on the file sharing frenzy (The Arizona Office of Public Affairs). The main gravitation of people flowed to another program known as Morpheus for their file sharing needs. Two key differences between Morpheus and Napster were that Morpheus didn’t just offer music, but additionally offered videos, documents, and software to any of its non-paying members. Also, it delivered the ability to download these media files from multiple users simultaneously, thus increasing download speeds drastically. Morpheus was the merged product of two sponsor-supported companies known as Music City and Kazaa. In the midst 2001 and all of Morpheus’ success, Music City made the overall fatal decision to follow suit with Napster and become a pay service. After this, Kazaa divided from the Morpheus merge to form its own program. Since many users agreed with Kazaa’s decision, the file sharing was not slowed at all. Kazaa’s rise in popularity couldn’t have come at a better time for the frequent internet user, this being because the rise of broadband internet subscribers was flourishing. Broadband internet (which is now used by 65% of CT residents and 47% of the total U.S. residents) increases internet interaction speed by exponential amounts. The simple act of downloading the newest Hollywood hit which would have taken days on dial-up internet can now be completed in a time window as small as an hour or two (Bob Jacobson).
The world leader in computer technologies, going by the name of Microsoft Inc. was subjected to an attack of piracy upon the release of their recent popular operating system Windows XP. The ‘Professional’ version of this software was pirated so massively that its product code had to be disabled from windows updates on the Microsoft site. Furthermore, one month before the scheduled legal release of this OS, it was already installed and running on 30,000 computers nationwide. This is a perfect example of one of the biggest known piracy problems. The ability to obtain and/or exploit a technology before it’s even supposed to be available to the general public. There’s a trial scheduled to commence on the piracy issue as a whole in early 2004 (Hugh Watson).
These issues cannot be solved with one simple solution. They come with many consequences attached no matter what is decided. Advancement is inevitable and can be very beneficial to any business. However, many developers of newer technologies see it fit to design their product for stealing or destroying. Regulation is most likely one of the best possible solutions to this problem. Many businesses could flourish if only they’d give into the obstacle of technology and accept it. Perhaps they wouldn’t be so apprehensive to do so if so many people weren’t developing their ideas only to hurt others morally and financially.
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100+ Top Technology Research Topics for Students
When pursuing their studies, learners are required to write papers and essays on technology research topics. This is a major academic task that influences the final grade that learners graduate with. But, the grades that students score are largely dependent on the technology topics that they opt to write about. Technology is generally a broad study field. As such, choosing research topics on technology is not always easy. If struggling to choose a good technology research topic for your academic paper or essay, here are some of the best ideas to consider.
Trendy Technology Research Topics
Perhaps, you need a prominent research topic about technology. In that case, you should consider prominent technology research paper topics. Here are some of the most trendy topics about technology to consider.
- Technology use in education (here is our list of 110 topics in education research )
- Space and technology studies (check out our top 30 space research topics )
- Current and stunning developments in technology
- Shocking inventions in modern technology that most people don’t know yet
- What technologies can be considered harmful and destructive?
- How does technology affect people’s values and health?
- Can humans be replaced by robots completely in the workplace?
- How have different countries contributed to modern technology developments
- Transport safety and technology
- Discuss the scope of the use of nanotechnologies
- Discuss the use of technology in medicine
- Which technologies can influence human mental health?
- Discuss how technology is changing human life
- What are the positive effects of technologies on personal safety?
- How does technology affect personal safety negatively?
- Discuss how modern technology facilitates the improvement of educational processes
- How do modern technologies influence users’ mental health?
- Why are robots likely to replace humans in the workplace?
- How has technology influenced space travel?
- Is food preservation technology safe?
This category also includes some of the most controversial technology topics. Nevertheless, each topic should be researched extensively before writing a paper or an essay.
Interesting Information Technology Topics
If pursuing a college or university program in information technology, this category has some of the best options for you. Here are some of the best information technology research topics to consider.
- How useful is unlimited data storage?
- How can humans manage large amounts of information?
- How blurred is the line between the human brain and a computer?
- Is entertainment technology something good or bad?
- Discuss the differences between digital reading and print reading
- How does Google impact the attention span of young people?
- How important are traditional research skills in the current era of advanced information technologies?
- How credible is the information provided by different platforms on the internet?
- Do blogs and books compare?
- Should schools and guardians encourage or discourage the use of media by children?
- Does Google provide the best information when it prefers its specific brands?
- Are humans losing the intelligence developed via conventional reading and research in the current digital age?
- How important is learning to how use social media, iPads, and Smart Boards?
- Should modern technologies be incorporated into teaching?
- How has Google search changed humans?
- How is intelligence gauged by humans?
- Is online information format making the readers skim rather than digest information?
- Is the ease of finding information on the internet something bad or good?
- Is technology changing how people read?
- Can using information technology make you smarter?
Students have many information technology research paper topics to choose from. However, select a topic that you find interesting to research and write about.
Interesting Science and Technology Topics
Are you looking for a science and technology-related topics? If yes, consider topics in this category. Here are some of the most interesting topic ideas in science and technology.
- Discuss the greatest technological and scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century
- How significant is number 0 in science and technology?
- How important is the first black hole image?
- Discuss the unlimited fractals’ perimeter despite their limited area
- How can a person perform mental calculations rapidly?
- Discuss the fourth dimension
- Discuss the math behind the Draft lottery by the NBA
- Differentiate non-parametric and parametric statistics
- Discuss the concept of something being random or impossible to prove mathematically
- Discuss some of the greatest modern age mathematicians
- How are the latest automobile technology improvements protecting the environment?
- Why are Smartphones resistant to viruses and bugs in comparison to computers?
- Discuss the Internet of Things story
- What made vector graphics mainstream and not pixels?
- Discuss the latest technology advances that relate to medicine
- Describe Molten Salt Nuclear Reactors
- Is it possible to power everything with solar energy?
- Explain why smart electronics get slower with time
- Differentiate closed and open systems in technology
- Discuss the process of converting old recordings into new formats
This category has amazing topics on technology and science. Select an idea that you find interesting to research and write a paper or essay about.
The Best Computer Technology Topics
If you’re pursuing a program on computer technologies, you will find educational technology topics in this category very interesting. Here are some of the best topics for technology and computers to consider.
- How can you describe the Machine Learning future?
- Discuss computer science that will be the most important in the future
- Discuss how big data and bioinformatics change biology
- What is the borderline for hardware and software in cloud computing?
- How moving everything to the cloud affects human life?
- Can robots become more intelligent and like people with reinforced learning?
- How can computer programmers enhance device protection with open-source getting trendier?
- Is Google becoming the first machine learning firm?
- Explain machine learning in detail
- Discuss the importance of machine learning
- Which sectors does machine learning affect the most?
- How will virtualization change the entertainment industry?
- Describe virtualization
- Can virtual reality be something bad or good?
- How will virtual reality change education?
- What can humans expect from the internet?
- What improvements can be made on the internet?
- How are robots changing the health sector?
- Are humans yet to invent any computer language?
- What will happen if most tasks that are currently done by humans are taken over by computers?
These are great technology essay topics to consider if pursuing a computer technology program in college or university. They can also be great technology debate topics. Nevertheless, extensive research is required when writing about any of these technology essay topics.
Controversial Topics in Technology for Research Papers and Essays
Are you looking for interesting technology topics that your audience will love to read about? If yes, consider one of these technology controversy topics to research and write about.
- Do law enforcement cameras invade privacy?
- Does the technology age turn humans into zombies?
- Has technology advancement led to a throw-away society?
- How has cloud technology changed data storage?
- How have Smartphones reduced live communication?
- Our modern technologies changing teaching?
- How does the use of IT by construction companies lead to under-spending and recession?
- Discuss the technologies used by NASA to explore Mars
- How dangerous are cell phones?
- How does media technology affect child development?
- Is the use of technology in planning lessons good or bad?
- How does technology influence the educational system?
- Discuss the application of green technologies in engineering, architecture, and construction
- Can modern technologies like cryptocurrencies help in identity theft prevention?
- How can technology be used to enhance energy efficiency?
- How are self-driving cars likely to change human life?
- How did Steve Jobs and Bill Gates change the world with technology
- What is the impact of drone warfare on humans?
- Can the actual reality be substituted by virtual reality?
- Discuss the use of technologies and smart materials in road building
If looking for hot topics in technology, consider some of the ideas in this category. Nevertheless, you can also find technology persuasive speech topics here. That’s because this category has some of the most debatable topics. If you still don’t find a great idea from this list, consider technology security topics or contact our thesis writers . Remember that extensive research is required to write a great paper or essay regardless of the topic that you opt to write about.
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Research Proposal: Impact of Technology & Media on Society in the US
Introduction.
Technology in information and communication has been on the rise, and this has caused a lot of changes in the social environment of various users, especially with the excessive use of social media. Media coverage in a country affects the users in both positive and negative ways, where they either use the media positively to learn new ideas and follow different news all over the world. The development of mobile technology has aided in shaping the impacts of media in the United States.
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Research Question
What are the effects of media use on the social lives of the users?
The Objective of the Study
I am studying the effects of media on the social environments of the users because I want to find out what consequences the excessive reliance of media can have on users.
Describing Particulars
The audience of the study will be based mostly on teenagers and college students who rely on various forms of media for their research and studying processes. The reason for choosing this audience is because there have been increased cases of college students being affected, especially on a cultural basis due to the excessive reliance on media. There have also been cases of the students changing the ways they socialize compared to past generations by relying on media more to meet new people instead of physically meeting them and making new friends. Media use among this population also aids in the revealing of valuable content that helps to entertain other people, grow relationships, and to get word of brands they support.
Methodology
Primary and secondary sources will be used to collect data that will be analyzed for the formulation of results, and later, the discussion based on the data that will be collected. The primary sources will include a comparative method of research that will compare the effects of media on the target population in the current generation compared to past generations. Questionnaires will be created and issued to the target population, where a minimum of forty inquiries will be used for the final analysis. Random interviews in colleges will also be performed where the people taking part in the interviews will be assured of their privacy and protection of their identity. The secondary sources that will be used include books, a literature review of past researches, and different articles that cover the topic.
Significance
After answering the research question, my audience will know how media affects many college students from their academic performances to their social interactions with other people and health issues like depression, anxiety, and addiction. Media is being used in a way that influences the politics, culture, education, innovation, and career of many people. This is mostly realized in college students who use media the most fro their research, studying, and acquiring different types of information. Excessive use can lead to a change in cultures and attitudes of the users, making them become addicted to it, mainly social media platforms. Such addiction has many adverse effects on the students, where they possess entirely different means of getting new friends and interacting with people. Their social environments are significantly affected, and without any interventions, the excessive spread of media will cause more negative effects to the college students and teenagers at large.
This research will help add more information about the knowledge that already exists concerning the effects of media on college students. It will do so by getting first-hand information from different psychologists and students using questionnaires and interviews. The importance of this research is that it will create a platform for studying the effects of media on the social environments of different students in colleges and other institutions of learning.
Bibliography
Al-Sharqi, L., K. Hashim, and I. Kutbi. "Perceptions of social media impact on students' social behavior: A comparison between Arts and Science students." International Journal of Education and Social Science 2, no. 4 (2015): 122-131.
McCoy, Bernard R. "Digital distractions in the classroom phase II: Student classroom use of digital devices for non-class related purposes." (2016).
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The Technology Research Methodology consists of three main activities and is an iterative process: (1) problem analysis (in which the need for an artifact for the underlying problem is...
CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, 2016, 7(4), 368-381 368 One to One Technology and its Effect on Student Academic ... Illinois State University, United States Abstract This research was a quantitative study using 4th grade participants from a Title 1 elementary school in Central Illinois. This study set out to determine whether one to one ...
Abstract Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God's gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences. Technology has certainly...
A research paper is a common form of academic writing. Research papers require students and academics to locate information about a topic (that is, to conduct research ), take a stand on that topic, and provide support (or evidence) for that position in an organized report. The term research paper may also refer to a scholarly article that ...
Researching technology can involve looking at how it solves problems, creates new problems, and how interaction with technology has changed humankind. Is Digital Reading Changing Our Brains? geralt CC0 Public Domain via Pixaby Steps in Researching Understand your Research Assignment: What kind of research paper has your instructor assigned?
A technology research topic is a research or thesis title that gives a researcher or expert an idea of what to work on. While in certain instances, people who make technology research will have their topic scribbled out for them, most of the time, they will need to get a topic themselves. These topics make it easy for them to work on.
Technology research and development refers to the invention, design, improvement, and construction of new types of products, equipment, and machinery. Highly skilled scientists and engineers conduct technology research and development on medical equipment, consumer electronics, industrial machines, power generators, computers, and any number of ...
Information technology research paper topics are very common in high schools and colleges. They are also common in social science studies. That's because they enable learners to evaluate the impact of modern technologies on human behaviors. You can also check our computer science topics.
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It was viewed in-house as a "research preview," says Sandhini Agarwal, who works on policy at OpenAI: a tease of a more polished version of a two-year-old technology and, more important, an ...
Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation.
Abstract. From elementary schooling to doctoral-level education, technology has become an integral part of the learning process in and out of the classroom. With the implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards, the skills required for research are more valuable than ever, for they are required to succeed in a college setting, as well ...
This technology research paper can discuss the positive and negative effects of technology in 20 years. 5. The Reliability of Self-Driving Cars. Self-driving cars are one of the most exciting trends in technology today. It is a major technology of the future and one of the controversial technology topics.
Some relevant technology research topics include online education, medical technology, and digital voting. A research topic is an idea a researcher has when preparing to conduct an experiment. A research project is the testing of this topic and is often used for academic or professional purposes.
Technology Research Paper Topics Here are starter ideas for your paper on technology. You will find a wide range of topics here, from internet research topics to more technical ones like genetic engineering and information technology research topics. Technology in General The most important technological development in the 21st century
technology may be more broadly applicable than cryptocurrencies. In this work, we focus on the cryptocurrency use case, since that is the primary use of the technology today; however, there is a growing interest in other sectors. Organizations considering implementing blockchain technology need to understand fundamental aspects of the technology.
Research flourishes in our 30 departments across five schools and one college, as well as in dozens of centers, labs, and programs that convene experts across disciplines to explore new intellectual frontiers and attack important societal problems. Our on-campus research capabilities are enhanced through the work of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, active ...
US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. Track elected officials, research health conditions, and find news you can use in politics ...
Educational Technology Research and Development is the only scholarly journal in the field focusing entirely on research and development in educational technology.. The Research Section assigns highest priority in reviewing manuscripts to rigorous original quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods studies on topics relating to applications of technology or instructional design in educational ...
Research Paper on Technology. Download. Samples 168. Over the past decade, new technologies have come about having astronomically powerful impact on the economy. The leaps and bounds that the technology industry has taken weren't always for the better. The downsides to all of these victories in man vs. machine have come with their problems ...
100+ Top Technology Research Topics for Students When pursuing their studies, learners are required to write papers and essays on technology research topics. This is a major academic task that influences the final grade that learners graduate with.
What Is a Term Paper A term paper is a research paper required at the end of a school semester. It tracks and evaluates students' knowledge about the course. Usually a scientific report or a discussion of an assigned topic, a term paper requires a lot of research and technical writing expertise. This academic writing assignment must be well-written, analytical, organized, and well-researched ...
Technology in information and communication has been on the rise, and this has caused a lot of changes in the social environment of various users, especially with the excessive use of social media. Media coverage in a country affects the users in both positive and negative ways, where they either use the media positively to learn new ideas and ...
Technology Research Paper An exploration of why we play video games despite the fact that we are almost certain to feel unhappy when we fail at them. We may think of video games as being "fun," but in The Art of Failure, Jesper Juul claims that this is almost entirely mistaken. When we play video games, our facial expressions are rarely those ...