Why do we need to know more about technology?

The meaning of the word "technology" evolved to reflect the changes. In the nineteenth century, technology referred simply to the practical arts used to create physical products, everything from wagon wheels and cotton cloth to telephones and steam engines. In the twentieth century, the meaning of the word was expanded to include everything involved in satisfying human material needs and wants, from factories and the organizations that operate them to scientific knowledge, engineering know-how, and technological products themselves.
In the development of human history, technology was mainly the area of craftsmen who passed their know-how (knowledge or skill) down from generation to generation. This know-how gradually improved in designs, and added a new techniques and materials. By the beginning of the twentieth century, technology had become a large-scale enterprise that depended on large stores of knowledge, skill and know-how which is too much for any one person to be a master.
The nature of technology has changed dramatically in the past hundred years. Indeed, the very idea of technology as we now consider it is relatively new. Now, large organizations were required for the development, manufacture, and operation of new technologies. Complex networks of interdependent technologies were developed, such as the suite of technologies for the automobile. These include gas and oil refineries, filling stations and repair shops, tire manufacturers, automobile assembly plants, the highway system, and many more. The government began to play a larger role in shaping technology through technological policies and regulations.