ABSTRACT
Throughout history, humanity has striven for ever more capable means to understand and control the natural world. Toward these ends, humans have engaged in social cooperation and the use of increasingly sophisticated tools to maximize inherent biological abilities and to compensate for biological inadequacies. The late George Bugliarello (2007) referred to this interaction of biological strengths and weaknesses, social engagement, and the use of tools (i.e., machines) as BioSoMa. This process can be seen in the iterative technologization of much of western society following the second Industrial Revolution. Indeed, the momentum gained by the end of the 1800s was such that the twentieth century may rightly be viewed as the dawn of the age of technology, during which time the pace and breadth of technological innovation, invention, and use increased to the point of being a formidable sociocultural force.
