Despite the centrality of technology for macro-societal theories, and the ecological perspective in particular, little systematic operationalization exists. This paper examines Frisbie and Clarke's multivariate index of technology at the societal level in a diachronic framework. We show that the index remains reliable and internally consistent over the 1950–70 period. We then decompose change into several components: changes of mean, changes of dispersion, and positional change. This analysis suggests that: (1) a trend toward higher levels of technology exists, (2) the technological rank order has been maintained while differences between nations have increased, as ecological and evolutionary theory predicts, and (3) the pace of technological change, in terms of both mean and dispersion, has quickened since 1960.