Technology is frequently seen as a catalyst for progress, yet its more profound impact is in reshaping societies, redistributing power, and transforming economies over time. This course examines the history of technological innovation not merely as a list of inventions, but as patterns that reveal how human societies adapt to, resist, and are ultimately transformed by new tools, systems, and ideas. From the agricultural revolution to the digital era, technological advancements have continually altered the methods of wealth creation, labour organisation, and the exercise of political power. Innovations in production and communication have fostered new economic frameworks, reshaped social hierarchies, and challenged established institutions, often causing short-term instability alongside growth. By comparing these historical instances, the course demonstrates that technological breakthroughs typically follow familiar patterns: early experimentation, partial adoption, social upheaval, regulatory reactions, and eventual normalisation.A central theme of the course is the relationship between technology and power. Innovations rarely arise in a political vacuum. States, markets, and social movements influence which technologies succeed and how they are used, while technologies in turn affect governance, surveillance, warfare, and democratic participation. Economic changes, such as industrialisation, globalisation, and platform capitalism, will be examined through the lens of technological change and its distributional effects.By analysing historical patterns, this course provides students with tools to think critically about modern technologies, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and digital platforms. Rather than viewing today’s changes as unprecedented, students will learn how past technological revolutions illuminate current challenges and future opportunities. The aim is not to forecast outcomes, but to understand how technology, innovation, and society evolve together and what history can teach us about managing periods of rapid change.