ABSTRACT
Technology is a relatively new word; like scientist, it was coined in the mid nineteenth century. Following a brief introduction of technical evolution and a summation of the problems posed by technical progress, the case for the development of a socio-biological theory of technology is made. The universally applicable notion of structural determinism is then introduced as the key element of a human system development concept based on a synthesis of technology, knowledge, and culture. The main proponent of biogenetic structuralism, Charles Laughlin, understands technology as a natural phenomenon. There are a number of aspects of autopoietic theory that lend themselves to the development of a biology of technology. The major implication of adopting a radical constructivist approach to organization and related science and technology studies is that, because of the operationally closed nature of cognition, the people can only know the world indirectly.
