ABSTRACT
Technology is an important kind of cross-disciplinary influence. Most technological advances are applied first to one discipline, and spread rapidly to others. Archaeology, for instance, uses a wide range of scientific technologies as tools. In all the social sciences, the computer is obviously the most important technology spawning innovative applications. The electron microscope helped biochemistry open the road to cell biology, a new field which results from a double technological development. Since almost all technological advances come from outside the social sciences, their applicability is almost inherently serendipitous. The telescope and the microscope are the most important classical cases of technological innovation stimulating scientific innovation; the radio telescope and the electron microscope are further extensions of the principle. Video cameras are important documentary tools in the analysis of nonverbal communication, small group psychology, linguistic discourse patterns, and the documentation of ritual in cultural anthropology, among other fields.
