3.2. Motivation¶
In the past, technology could be treated as the applied side of knowledge. Today, knowledge must increasingly be considered an application of technology.
While instrumentation has been integral to the scientific method since the time of Archimedes, the reliance of modern science on digital infrastructure has no real precedent short of the printing press. Software can slash the labour required to conduct almost any kind of numerical analysis. Remote sensing and online data have reduced the need for expensive and dangerous field work, while computational modelling has augmented or displaced many kinds of physical experimentation [Heaton and Carver, 2015]. Software and digital literacy have become non-negotiable requisites of a productive scientist’s life, regardless of their interests or expertise.