THE CONVENTIONAL DEFINITION OF TECHNOLOGY
If I were to ask ten people at random what they think technology is, at least nine out of them would conceive technology to be the application of scientific knowledge, skills, methods and tools to solve practical problems, improve processes, or achieve specific goals. They would say this because it is the textbook definition of technology, it is the popular one that everyone quotes and that is exactly why I will not be discussing technology and technological advancements from that perspective. I will instead explore another way of conceiving technology in this article.
MY CONCEPTION OF TECHNOLOGY
So if I was asked to say what I think technology is, in a bid to be unique I would stray from the above expected definition, revert to the basics and say technology is anything man creates in order to adapt to his environment and to survive. I am not in anyway disagreeing with the textbook definition of technology, and I am definitely not saying that my opinion is better, all I am trying to point out is that this definition I just gave captures a fundamental aspect of what technology is. There is this widely used proverb, “necessity is the mother of invention”, this saying encapsulates the idea that when a need or necessity arises, it often sparks innovative thinking to create solutions and address that need, one way they do that is to invent technologies.
Let me make an example of technology using this definition I just established in the above paragraph. The discovery of fire by early humans; this can be considered a significant technological advancement in our history. Using fire allowed early humans to cook food, making it more digestible and safer to eat, it also played a crucial role in providing warmth and protection. This technological advancement was an essential tool in early human survival.
THE NIGERIAN TECHNOLOGY
Like I mentioned earlier, necessity is the mother of invention, before talking about the Nigerian technology, lets look at how this saying has been put into practice by other countries. One notable example is the United States of America employing technology to mitigate the potential impact of natural disasters in the development and implementation of advanced early warning systems, particularly for hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Another example is Japan which due to its geographical location in a seismically active region has invested heavily in developing and implementing advanced earthquake-resistant infrastructure. This includes engineering techniques, building designs, and urban planning aimed at mitigating the impact of earthquakes, a frequent and significant natural threat in the region.
In Nigeria however, we are lucky enough to not really suffer from natural disasters, that would require all these sort of technological inventions. If I was talking about other countries, I would probably mention technological advancements like artificial intelligence, computing technologies, materials science, robotics and so on, but unfortunately I am not writing about them, instead I am writing about a country whose citizens have developed their own unique technology to adapt to their environment.
As Nigerians, our ability to easily adapt to unfavorable conditions around us is both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. We do this by employing a coping mechanism (our own form of technology) “humor” or to put it in Nigerian terms ‘cruise’, I know this might sound weird or unconventional, I know its not what you would normally consider “technology” but it actually is, it’s a smart, innovative invention to solve a problem, to make lives bearable, less miserable than it really is. Lets look at an example of how Nigerians recently used this ‘technology’; when the school fees increment was announced, after few weeks of complaining and all, this technology(cruise) was used by Nigerians to shield themselves from the harsh reality that now dawned on them as most of them slowly accepted their fate. We saw memes like “300k to study religious studies, I thought salvation was free?” “170k to study sociology when I am an introvert” and so on. I could go on and on as there are tons of examples where this technology has been deployed but what I am trying to point out is that Nigerians hide behind this technology not because they see serious matters as something to joke with but instead as a way to preserve their sanity, fight depression, as distraction and temporary relief, mask their inner turmoil, cope with trauma, reduce emotional burdens on others, express inexpressible emotions, to maintain a façade of normalcy.
MY TAKEAWAY
Before reading this article, if you were asked what technology is, or what technology Nigeria has produced so far, most if not all would not have considered this definition of technology or thought of ‘cruise’ as a form of technology, but now you have been introduced to a new perspective, and if you think of it, a tool that can be used to preserve sanity, mask inner turmoil, express inexpressible emotions, fight depression, reduce emotional burdens and so on should be considered a technological advancement.
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