Emerging Technologies and Ethical Issues in Engineering Papers from a Workshop (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
The Ethics of Nanotechnology: Vision and Values for a New Generation of Science and Engineering
The Ethics of Nanotechnology: Vision and Values for a New Generation of Science and Engineering
Pages 29-56
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 29... ...
For nanoscale science and technology the vision involves understanding and manipulating matter at the atomic scale. The vision was described in Nanotechnolgy: Shaping the World Atom by Atom, a report by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC, 1999)
|
From page 30... ...
One approach has a very narrow focus but a grand vision; this is Eric Drexler's project of molecular assemblers, or molecular manufacturing. A second approach has an extremely broad focus but no vision; nanotechnology is a grab bag category that includes anything and everything related to the nanoscale, with no significant integrating ideals.
|
From page 31... ...
The Foresight Institute, founded by Eric Drexler and Christine Peterson, regularly sponsors workshops to address the ethical and social impact of nanotechnology. This group has formulated guidelines for the development of nanotechnology that would minimize its adverse impacts (Foresight Institute, 2000)
|
From page 32... ...
In fact, many scientists consider Drexler-type molecular manufacturing science fiction. In one very visible debate, Richard Smalley, Nobel Laureate in chemistry for the codiscovery of C-60 (fullerenes)
|
From page 33... ...
In addition to popular entertainments, people who have testified before Congress and who are often cited in media reports on nanotechnology are also associated with molecular manufacturing. Of course, we must be aware of this debate, and we must understand how the ethical issues are therein addressed.
|
From page 34... ...
In fact, it is hard to see how these diverse research endeavors can be included under a single heading. Nanotechnology has become a grab bag for loosely related science and engineering projects that focus on the nanoscale.
|
From page 35... ...
Of course, a host of ethical issues are associated with science and engineering, including research integrity, workforce and product safety, and the impact of new products on society, just to mention a few. The question of "hype and funding" (Arnall, 2003; Roy, 2002)
|
From page 36... ...
note, nanoscale science and technology are "at the unexplored frontier of science and engineering," and both science and engineering will be fundamentally transformed as a result. The broader relationship between science, engineering, and ethics will also be transformed.
|
From page 37... ...
At the bottom end of the scale, quantum effects dominate; at the top end, classical effects dominate. Many of the interesting properties associated with nanotechnology exist in this strange middle world, the mesorealm, where, as Michael Roukes (2001)
|
From page 38... ...
Tools for Visualization and Manipulation in the Nanorealm In essays often regarded as founding documents for the field of nanotechnology, Richard Feynman (1992, 1993) said one of the most important things that can be done to advance biology, and the broader project of scaling down in all areas, was to improve the resolution of the electron microscope.
|
From page 39... ...
In addition to the core scientific considerations, there are also certain characteristics of interfaces between diverse disciplinary sciences, science and broader engineering projects, and science and social policy. The following characteristics are often considered central to nanotechnology.
|
From page 40... ...
Thus, ethics, with its disciplined reflection on values, goes to the very root of this technoscience. Ethical considerations must be addressed, even in the earliest stages of research.
|
From page 41... ...
If an ethical awareness and culture become part of the research enterprise, then all of the other components of ethical analysis are likely to fall into place. If not, nanotechnology is likely to struggle with the same polarization of scientific and ethical analysis that has plagued other controversial areas, such as nuclear technology and genetically modified organisms.
|
From page 42... ...
. Scientists must appreciate how broader kinds of human discourse guide ethical analysis; and people in the humanities must learn as much as they can about the relevant science.
|
From page 43... ...
Risk analysis is widely used to manage uncertainty surrounding the introduction of a hazardous chemical or a large-scale engineering project; it is also integral to the way we determine whether a given research protocol can be advanced in human subjects or whether a given treatment option ought to be pursued for a patient (National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects, 1978)
|
From page 44... ...
As a framework for the early debates on genetically modified organisms, this approach resulted in their exclusion from most European markets, and the debates were divisive and polarized. For reasons that cannot be addressed here, I believe that the precautionary principle would be inappropriate as a basis for debates on nanotechnology.
|
From page 45... ...
As topics are identified, we can begin addressing them in greater depth. One strategy for identifying core areas involves distinguishing between ethical issues related to particular subtopics of nanotechnology and ethical issues related to nanoscale science and technology generally.
|
From page 46... ...
. Military uses of nanotechnology should be the subject of careful ethical analysis, not only because they will affect military personnel, but also because they are likely to be transferred quickly to nonmilitary settings.
|
From page 47... ...
Energy Nanotechnology has great potential to address energy and environmental problems. Examples include high-efficiency fuel cells, artificial photosynthesis, new catalysts, and technologies for reducing energy consumption.
|
From page 48... ...
Some of the work on engineering ethics, for example, ethical considerations associated with a culture that sustains research integrity, can surely be integrated into nanoethics. To this extent, at least, researchers in engineering ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, and bioethics must participate in this dialogue.
|
From page 49... ...
At this stage, some radical questions will be raised, such as what will happen if nanotechnology allows scarcity to become scarce; how much nanoprosthesis it will take to make a person nonhuman; how the concept of property will change if most things become replicable; if nanotechnology is as transformative as optimists predict, how difficult the transformation will be; what the implications will be of truly sentient artificial intelligences; how the nature of man will change; and how humans will/should interact with nanobots. Smith believes these radical questions will arise fairly soon, whereas others (myself included)
|
From page 50... ...
The midterm task of addressing ethical issues merges with the general task of characterizing nanotechnology; both jointly provide an anticipatory coherence of the emerging science and its interface with society. NANOTECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In this essay, I have focused directly on nanoscale science and technology.
|
From page 51... ...
Although fairly specific goals have been put forth -- namely, NBIC convergence for the purposes of human enhancement -- the initiative could be understood in a more general way as a forum for exploring the future impact of all science and engineering, including qualitative changes just over the horizon. Nanotechnology is the key enabling technology that will make possible NBIC convergence; thus serious reflection on these enabling capacities will require an approach that integrates issues raised by many other areas of science and engineering and issues raised by nanoscience and nanotechnology.
|
From page 52... ...
. It is possible that public debate on the toxic effects of current nanoproducts will resemble the debate about genetically modified organisms.
|
From page 53... ...
Scientific American 285(3)
|
From page 54... ...
Pp. 325330 in Converging Technologies for Improving Human Performance, edited by M
|
From page 55... ...
2002. Converging Technologies for Improving Human Per formance: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.