Technology and Cultural Connections Assignment Essay

Technology and Cultural Connections Assignment - Essay Example Technology, expansive mass media and accelerated communication has virtually removed space barrier. All these have culminated in new developments in individual and social culture. For instance, western culture is oriented towards individual autonomy, independence and differentiation hence, it is more egocentric. On the other hand, much of eastern culture attaches so much value to society i.e. family, community and land (Triandis, 2005). Thus, western culture is individualistic while eastern culture is collective in nature. Combination of these two provides hybrid cultures and new cultures altogether. Globalization has mainly been facilitated by technological advancements. Simpler form of globalization took place in Mediterranean hundreds of years ago. Technological developments in transport and navigation in this region enhanced commercial activities across borders. Globalization was further facilitated by the invention of Script in communication technology. Further developments in communication and transportation gave man greater control over space and thus globalization was spread across globe by empires such as Byzantine Empire. Guttenberg gave a big boost to globalization when he invented the printer. This was followed by invention of newspapers, telegraph by Samuel Morse, telephone by Graham Bell in 1861. Other outstanding historical developments in communication technology included the invention of radio by Hertz and his colleagues. All these contributed to conquest of new lands and introduction of uniform modes of trade and standard modes of communication such as English in non English speaking territories. Other advances in transport and communication technology that gave a boost to globalization included invention of high speed ships and airplanes, television, satellites, fiber optic cable, SWIFT and VSAT (Triandis, 2005). Electromechanical technology refers to things such as radio and television. Computer and internet