Let's look at two examples:

Example 1: A hungry otter has an objective: break open a clamshell. He uses a simple tool - technology in the form of a stone - to do so. He arrives as this decision based on past experience, or what he learned from his mother.

Example 2: The president of the United States declares an objective: to put a man on the moon within the decade. He and his team use the same tool - technology in the form of space flight. They base their choices on research and expert advice, past experience, cost, and so on.

In both examples the same framework is used, only the sophistication of the tools vary.

Over time our species has seen incredible success with this framework. On July 20, 1969 the unthinkable was accomplished when the the United States' Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon. But that success has been at a tremendous cost: we're destroying life on our planet at an alarming rate...