Final answer:
Governments aim to keep pace with technology primarily to ensure public protection, balancing the encouragement of innovation with necessary regulation, safety standards, and patent laws.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary reason that governments try to keep pace with technology is to ensure that the public is protected. When answering the question, it is important to understand that governments have a role in both encouraging innovation and regulating it to safeguard public interest. Public policy regarding technology must find a balance between stimulating progress and applying limitations, like with the use of patents that incentivize inventors but are restricted to truly new innovations to prevent monopolizing techniques indefinitely. Moreover, government regulations can help ensure safety standards, as seen with the historical example of boiler explosions in steam engines that led to the implementation of safety regulations. Patents are one aspect of how governments use laws to influence and control technology, granting inventors exclusive rights which encourage further investment in research and development by protecting the inventor's interests against copying. However, the overall goal is to maintain an environment where technological advancements can flourish while also considering the impact on society and the economy at large.