section_path: Impact
section_name: Impact
paragraph_text: Impact
  
  Technological change is the largest cause of long-term economic growth. Throughout human history, energy production was the main constraint on economic development, and new technologies allowed humans to significantly increase the amount of available energy. First came fire, which made edible a wider variety of foods, and made it less physically demanding to digest them. Fire also enabled smelting, and the use of tin, copper, and iron tools, used for hunting or tradesmanship. Then came the agricultural revolution: humans no longer needed to hunt or gather to survive, and began to settle in towns and cities, forming more complex societies, with militaries and more organized forms of religion.
  
  Technologies have contributed to human welfare through increased prosperity, improved comfort and quality of life, and medical progress, but they can also disrupt existing social hierarchies, cause pollution, and harm individuals or groups.
  
  Recent years have brought about a rise in social media's cultural prominence, with potential repercussions on democracy, and economic and social life. Early on, the internet was seen as a "liberation technology" that would democratize knowledge, improve access to education, and promote democracy. Modern research has turned to investigate the internet's downsides, including disinformation, polarization, hate speech, and propaganda.
  
  Since the 1970s, technology's impact on the environment has been criticized, leading to a surge in investment in solar, wind, and other forms of clean energy.