Evolution and mutation of technology

Abstract

Technology is born, exists over a lifespan and dies. Maybe it also lives! Some processes or products are superseded by new ones, somewhat easily, whereas others survive for extended periods. The blast furnace process is one which continues to evolve and improve, through Blast furnace specific developments, but also by adoption and adaption of other technologies. It is not easy to replace blast furnaces all over the world with a new process – the magnitude of the task is too big. Even partial replacement has turned out to be quite a task. In today's world, a new technology has to be substantially better than the existing one in terms of safety, ease of operation and control, operating and capital cost, ability to recover from disasters, ability to survive when the conditions around it change and environmental impact. A genus of a technology that is continuously evolving through mutation or otherwise is difficult to replace, but new species will continue to spring up to challenge the dominant one.