Does technology change history, or is it people that do this?”

The question posed to me is, “Does technology change history, or is it people that do this?” If one were to take a walk back into history, they would notice that the potential for technology has always been there, but its human interaction with that potential that made it possible for that single, lone, idea to come to fruition. Prime examples would be; Einstein with the theory of relativity, even further back is Noah and the ark, Marie Curie and the theory of radioactivity, and the list goes on. Therefore, the answer to that particular question would be people. Humans are the reason history regresses or progresses. If all humans as a whole were to do absolutely nothing at all, but exist, never moving, breathing, sleeping, nothing at all the earth would not change from the time it was created. Three things contribute to the change in history all dealing with humans, Ego, Determination, and trial and error.
Since the beginning of life as we know it on earth, there has always been ego involved. If one were to take it from a biblical standpoint, the two egos to begin with would be Adam and Eve. Now granted they were not egotistical until later in there story, but ego was present. Adam was ego boosted because he prided himself in following the rules of God. Then, along came Eve and she succumbed to the “Dark Side” and her ego was temporarily degraded upon obtaining the knowledge that they were nude. Once she created sufficient clothing for them, her ego became boosted just as Adams was.
Now, from a scientific-historical point of view, which is assuming we evolved from the state of Simians, one could still strongly argue that ego was present. No historical record or book that holds the history of their beginning, but using facts that have been uncovered over time and research on primates of today one can infer that ego worked in the same way back then. The primates of today let their egos decided who will be the dominant of the group, meaning one could accurately assume that this was the way of the Simians.
Now, moving forward in time to the period of the emperors and empresses one would notice that their drive to build a great empire was normally their prime priority. They would have thousands sometimes of workers moving five-ton slabs, in order to build pyramids, statues, city walls, whatever the person in power could think of at the time. They knew that survival was dependent upon their success as an empire. The subjects to the emperor and/or empress would go to great lengths to accomplish every request asked of them. The determinations of these great empires were without a doubt insurmountable.
Denis Baron hints at the need for determination to be great. He states that, “….although Americans can’t seem to survive without the constant stimulus of digital multitasking, much of the rest of the world barely notices when the cable is down, being preoccupied instead with raising literacy rates, fighting famine, and disease, and finding clean water, not to mention a source of electricity that last for more than one or two hours.” (Baron 329) He is in a sub textual way describing their determination to make their lives easier, better, more productive, etc. Main being determination is key, if you want something done, you have to “just do it” (Nike). Because of people being determined and using technology that humans in a sense brought to life, they were able to change the history of Egypt.
Trial and error is one of the points mentioned above; further elaborating on that point Malcolm Gladwell states, “Four college students sat down at the lunch counter…. “I’d like a cup of coffee, please,” one of the four, Ezell Blair, said to the waitress. “We don’t serve negroes here,” she replied.” Here is a prime example of trial and error. It is not stated whether the young woman knew this prior to sitting down and asking for service, but taking into account the way the article is formatted, one would be under the assumption that she was not. A young woman has sat down and requested service, this would be the trial, unfortunately, she was revoked service, error, and her simply sitting down in that particular place was an error.
She and her colleagues did not leave until after closing and came back the next day with more people, only after being photographed and “interviewed” when leaving the establishment. This information spread and grasped the attention of more individuals, eventually causing a peaceful protest. This is yet another example of how humans changes history, and not technology. One of three things could have happened; the information would have spread, but no one would have come. The information could have stayed contained and the young woman been arrested, or the event would have never occurred if she had sat at the snack bar, assuming that she knew that she would not be served, and agreed to the rules set by the establishment. Due to the effect of trial and error, and it being combined with “man-made” technology, People from all over came to support the protest, and those who could not accomplish that in person did it through technology.
Yes, it is true that technology has made changing history in some aspects easier, but if it were not for humankind and its actions, there would be no technology, and/or spread of information through technology. Just think; let us assume theoretically that there is a fire at this present moment. No one can smell, see or hear this fire, but the person in it, if they do not call, email, kik, scream, Facebook, or tweet it, then how could someone possibly know it was happening? This is why humans change the course of history and not technology. There are three simple points that deal with human actions, Ego, Determination, and trial and error. These three combined are the reason we have progressed and digressed in history, and this will forever hold true.