General Purpose Technology
General purpose technologies (GPTs) are technologies that can affect an entire economy (usually at a national or global level). GPTs have the potential to drastically alter societies through their impact on pre-existing economic and social structures. Examples include the steam engine, railroad, interchangeable parts, electricity, electronics, material handling, mechanization, control theory (automation), the automobile, the computer, and the Internet.
Read more about General Purpose Technology: Lag, Government Investment Necessary To Develop New General Purpose Technologies, New General Purpose Technologies in Energy Systems Transformation
Famous quotes containing the words general, purpose and/or technology:
“Mathematics is merely the means to a general and ultimate knowledge of man.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A doctrine serves no purpose in itself, but it is indispensable to have one if only to avoid being deceived by false doctrines.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)
“Our technology forces us to live mythically, but we continue to think fragmentarily, and on single, separate planes.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)