layers of technology

Tools

Human-scale artifacts, either found or crafted, that enhance individual and social practices. Examples include rocks, axes, forks, and writing implements.

Technologies

The application of complex (scientific) knowledge to problem-solving, embodied in intentionally designed artifacts that are sufficiently intricate to necessitate engineering. Examples include the waterwheel, steam engine, light bulb, and refrigerator.

Techniques

Applied conceptual knowledge or a 'way of doing' that may or may not require tools or instruments. Techniques encompass methods, skills, and processes used to accomplish specific tasks or solve problems.

Ecologies of technologies

Sets of technologies that are symbiotically related and co-evolving as nested functional units. For instance, a light bulb, lamp, power lines, transformers, and power station form an ecology of technologies. Similarly, a microchip, hard drive, screen, mouse, modem, broadband, and server banks constitute another ecology.

Infrastructures

Multiple different ecologies of technology embedded together to form a basic part of social coordination and material reproduction within a society. Examples include supply chains, transportation systems, markets, and communication systems.

Technological epochs

A duration of historical time characterized by a specific suite of infrastructures that are interrelated as the foundation of a social system. Examples include the pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial eras. Each epoch is defined by the dominant technologies and infrastructures that shape social, economic, and cultural patterns.

adapted by andrea faria, proposed by the consilience project on Technology is Not Values Neutral: Ending the Reign of Nihilistic Design.