This document provides an introduction to a course on technology and occupational therapy. It defines technology as the total knowledge and skills available to a society. The document discusses how technology has allowed human populations to grow and how it is now indispensable. It also explores attitudes towards technology and how occupational therapists can manipulate contexts to help those needing assistance with daily living.

1. Participation in Occupation 1 Technology BT230001 Lecture One: An Introduction

3. Retrieved 1 February 2007 from: http://scripturist.org/don't%20panic.jpg

5. How do we define technology?

8. Technological change and human history

9. Technology made large populations possible; large populations now make technology indispensable Joseph Wood Krutch

12. Technology….the knack of so arranging the world that we don’t have to experience it. Mark Frisher, writer (1957)

14. We live in a society exquisitely dependant on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology Carl Sagan

15. ‘ The problem with technology is….’

17. When you get the urge to predict the future, better lie down until the feeling goes away Forbes Magazine (July 10, 1978)

18. Technology Hype?

19. The chief cause of problems is solutions Eric Sevareid

21. Retrieved February 1, 2007. from http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/img/techno/comprage070206.jpg

22. Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth Dave Barry, humorist

24. ‘ Technology is great because…’

26. I have a microwave fireplace. You can lay down in front of the fire all night in eight minutes Steven Wright, humorist

27. Technology and Occupational Therapy

31. from : At Our Wit’s Beginning by Peter Wilson Conceived by and within nature the human species is a part of nature: conceiving of nature sets the species apart from nature. To verify our conceptions we set about exploring nature, making use of it to shore up our independence. Our ideas, explorations and use of nature connects us to the world, which also means with each other. As individuals we enjoy a measure of independence and individuality, but to prevent our being cast off we must rely on our connections, our relationships, to sustain us. Having good connections, making connections, finding the right connections, are the ways in which human beings get on in the world. Being connected to the world, conceiving of a world that is not apparent to our senses means that we join our ideas to the materials of the world and put a construction upon them and thereby build our own environments. In these we live within the environment of the world at large. (p.3-4)

34. Asking the right questions is superior to finding elaborate answers to the wrong questions Steven Schnaars, Megamistakes (1989)