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Some of the old models of the connections between societal development, science and technology are giving rise to new ways of thinking about the impact of the exploitation of natural resources.. 
Francis Bacon, in his book ‘Advancement of Learning’ published in 1605 had established a linear model of scientific discoveries leading to technology development, which in turn, lead to economic development. We now know that this model is certainly not valid today. 
Technology is not always the offspring of science. The invention of bronze three thousand years ago came from the search for a treatment of copper that could make it harder. Fortuitously it was discovered that the addition of tin, a softer metal, produced a material harder and more durable than either copper or tin alone.  It was only in the last century that we have come to understand and predict how to make alloys.  
Quite often, technology precedes science. Steam engines came before the laws of thermodynamics were understood. A major part of new technologies indeed evolve from already existing science and technology. Many advances and innovations in technology are essentially incremental improvements in existing technologies. A technology can give rise to new technologies, the so-called ‘spin-off’ technologies. It is not only that new science gives rise to new technology, but the reverse is also true: new technology gives us new science.
With the rate of knowledge doubling up every five years, it is becoming difficult to predict the future. ‘A technology of the 20th century’ symposium held in 1895, based on the level of knowledge that existed at the time, would not have mentioned aeroplane, radio, antibiotics, nuclear energy, electronics, computers or space exploration!  All of these have changed society for better and worse.  What are the equivalents of this that will be missing when we make predictions abouit the social impact of technology, at the dawn of the next century?
In the first half of the twentieth century, physics occupied a dominant position. But, bio- sciences displaced physics in that leading role now. It is not cellular and molecular biology alone, but also ecology, that is taking biology to a different level of impact on society. The technological potential of biology will pose a new challenge due to its intimate connection with agriculture and health, areas of great political sensitivity and social importance. Technology transfer in biological fields does not relate to just sharing the luxuries of a consumer society but also to sharing the means of survival. The issues in trade & technology negotiations thus become far more complicated. The new shifts in the 21st century will be hard to predict, but it is quite clear that the continuing wars of information revolution and the felt impact of the ‘gene revolution’ is shaping the future of the mankind, which will have a profound impact on global economic and sociopolitical scenario, that will be hard to anticipate today in its full measure.
The acceleration of technology has become exponential since the invention of the microchip. In no other time in history, has technology advanced society at such an accelerated rate. Organizations, institutions and the individuals that make them up, often struggle to understand technologies, their applications and the potential needs of the future. Technology has invaded every aspect of life. Technology affects domestic relationships, an individual's work, economic life, leisure, the nation's institutional structure as a whole, and changes the environment on a global scale.  Mass media, and the daily events of day-to- day living reminds individuals that they are part of a "worldwide system of economic and technological relationships, a great society on which we depend but which we do not understand in its vast invisible interconnectedness. Keeping up is a constant battle, and our failures are revealed in drug addiction, epidemics, pollution and climate change. 
With the influx of information available to the average person, the true skill has become deciphering what is important and what is not. Just because the amount of information has increased, individuals within the society do not automatically understand this knowledge. We sometimes feel that it means information whistling by our ears at light speed, too fast to be absorbed. 
We are said to be living in the information age.  A current problem in the educational arena is the expectation of what new teachers must be able to accomplish. A "circle of causality" forms between the expectation of society on how students are taught.  What really occurs in the classroom comes through instruction by teachers who lean heavily on the traditional model of educating students. This line of least reistance with regards the choice of methodology may be based on comfort level, society expectations, or the amount of extra work they know is needed to make major changes in teaching style.   What is certain is that in a society where events change rapidly, youth should not be trained with an antiquated system that prepares them for jobs of the past. An educational system must change with society. 
Society does not agree on how much technology should be part of education. Some communities are heavily made up of people who want their young people to be taught using the model they learned by. Other communities feel that a new model of instruction is necessary to help students meet the demands of the fast moving technological society. While this argument continues, public schools and teacher education programmes creep slowly toward  integrating technology with the realities of living with its societal outcomes.