What is technology? Many people think that technology is something peculiar to the way(s) that humans behave; hence, technology has been with humans for a very, very long time. But this means that all human societies are "technological" --- contrary to a common belief, in the present, that technology is somehow peculiar to very recent human innovations --- and begs us to examine the differences between the technologies developed by different human societies throughout the long history of human habitation in the world. Why does one human society express itself through this technology and another, through that technology?
When we turn to our own society, what can we say about the ways in which we have expressed ourselves through technology? Why have we made the choices that we have made? What are the implications for both the character and the quality of human life given what we have done? What roles do scientists and engineers take in the expression of technology, today?
Aristotle suggested that ethics is really a discourse on human happiness; of course, he did not believe that human happiness is merely so simple a thing as just pleasure. For him, human happiness is the product of building character and, in particular, the character of a person of practical wisdom --- one who is well brought up, learns to understand the basis of good habits, and one who deliberates between choices, choosing well. What is important in this notion is that happiness lies within the way(s) we live within whatever we have. The question here is what does technology add to that? How is any of this conditioned by whatever technology can offer within whatever society we are considering? See Phil 101 Notes for a further discussion of Aristotle's ethics.