Attitudes Toward Technology Dbq

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Around the dawn of the first millennium, the Han and Roman attitudes toward technology were both of self betterment, however the Han Empire in China placed a much greater worth on technological enhancements than the Roman Empire did. However, it should be noted that every document was written by someone of the upper class, giving no insight into how people of lesser status felt towards technology. This, plus the fact that there are no female perspectives, shows how only a very narrow segment of a larger society felt towards technological advancement. An additional document from either would provide only further to help the understanding of societal attitudes to technology. The Han's view of technology was very self glorifying. This is of course for good reason, because the Chinese invented nearly everything from paper to gunpowder. Based on the attitudes Documents 1-4, we know that the Han felt that technology should be about helping the people. As shown by Document 1, one of the major goals of technological advancement was to prevent disasters. This shows a concern for the people, giving the impression that technology is there to help them. This attitude is reinforced by Huan Guan in Document 2, where he writes about the impact that a lack of technology has on people. One of his main points is that innovation should occur when current technology proves to be poor in quality and ineffective, which indicates his largest concern in the usefulness of technology. Huan Tan begins Doc. 3 with self praise for the Han invention of the mortar and pestle, and then goes on to exaggerate about its effectiveness being increased a hundredfold. This even further reiterates the Han's concern with the effectiveness of technology. Document 4 praises the achievements of Tu Shih and places his concerns as a love of the common people. This document is questionable though because it is
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