Common meaning:

The application of knowledge to create new products and improve the efficiency of old ones.

Hidden meaning of the Equity religion: 

If something was invented in the West, it is bad.

Discussion:

The Equityists believe the West and everything it has created is bad. This includes technology, which they believe clutters up our lives and creates oppression as it separates us from our true selves.

It is true that technology can cause distractions and cause issues, but on the whole, we are better off with it, than without it.  

Rousseau felt that the technologies of the West were an awful thing and that we needed to get beyond them and back to a more primitive state where everything would be idyllic. This new Equity religion is very similar, and at its core, it also believes that technology is bad and the hope is that someday we can get rid of it all.

From the Equity believers perspective, technology is not your friend.