technology vs. technique

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the correct use of the word technology. Today's post is a continuation of a post I wrote on August 3, 2010.

Although technology and technique could both be translated as 기술 in Korean, they are not completely interchangeable in English. Technology means the application of scientific knowledge/method/tools, a close equivalent of 과학기술 in Korean. Take a look at the following example.

• Technology’s potential to bring about social good is widely extolled, but its failures, until now, have rarely been discussed by nonprofits who deploy it...“We are taking technology embedded with our values and our culture and embedding it in the developing world, which has very different values and cultures,” Soren Gigler, the World Bank specialist, told those at the FailFaire event here in July. Behind the events is a Manhattan-based nonprofit group, MobileActive, a network of people and organizations trying to improve the lives of the poor through technology. Its members hope light-hearted examinations of failures will turn into learning experiences — and prevent others from making the same mistakes. (New York Times, August 16, 2010)

Technique means a skill or command with which one handles a "particular" task, a close equivalent of 기법/기량 in Korean. For example:

• The prospect of a government attack on a popular estate-planning technique, referred to as a grantor retained annuity trust, or GRAT, has been a topic of much discussion among wealth advisors and tax professionals over the past several months. President Obama drew attention to the technique in his 2011 budget proposals, and provisions targeting "short-term" and "rolling GRAT" techniques have been included as revenue offsets in legislation passed by the House. (Forbes, August 18, 2010)

And/or in a negative sentence

A lot of students seem to be confused about whether to use "and" or "or" in a negative sentence. To make things clear, take a look at the following sentences.

• I like milk and coffee: This is an ambiguous sentence. It could mean that you like having the two together. But it could also mean that you like milk as well as coffee.
  
• I like milk or coffee: This is what you would say when asked "what do you like to drink in the morning?" You like both of them, but don't really care which one you have.
  
• I don't like milk and coffee: This means you don't like having the two together. But you may like having milk or coffee alone.
  
• I don't like milk or coffee: This means you don't like milk and you don't like coffee either.
  

The point is, when there are two or more items, and you want to negate all of them, you should use "or," NOT "and."