NanoCultureson speculation, bioethics & paranoia

www.andymiah.net

rca 02/2008

NanoCultures

the

of nano

NanoCultureson speculation, bioethics & paranoia

NanoCultureson speculation, bioethics & paranoia

NanoCultureson speculation, bioethics & paranoia

on speculation, bioethics & paranoia

on speculation

“Our imagination seems to be our only limit, as scientists and other experts predict such innovations as toxin-eating nanobots, exoskeletons that enable us to leap walls in a single bound, affordable space travel for everyone, nanofactories that can make anything we want, and even near immortality.” (Lin & Allhoff, 2007)

What is our role in this collaborative speculation?Must we be ethically responsible in this endeavour?Whose visions are enabled to reach us?Which determinisms do we critique/accept?

bioethics

NanoBio-RAISE (2006-8)

novel ethical and cultural issues

convergence of sciences

Non-medical/cosmetic - human enhancement

Functional foodsRemote health monitoring

(Manuel Castells, 2000, The Rise of the Network Society, p.72)“Technological convergence increasingly extends to growing interdependence between the biological and micro-electronics revolutions, both materially and methodologically…Nanotechnology may allow sending tiny microprocessors into the systems of living organisms, including humans

Ethics of public engagement

ethics of nano research (experimental vs therapeutic)

Regulation of industry

“popular culture exploits scientific dialogue to shape societal acceptance ofemerging technology”Bowman et al. (2007). "Are We Really the Prey? Nanotechnology as Science and Science Fiction " Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society 27(6): 435-445.

UPSTREAM

paranoia

“commentators urge that time is running out to contemplate the implications of nano” (Baber, 2004)

“Governing the arena of nanotechnology will only be more challenging if the release of a Hollywood blockbuster heightens public interest and community paranoia.”

Bowman, et al. (2007). "Are We Really the Prey? Nanotechnology as Science and Science Fiction" Bulletin of Science, Technology, and Society 27(6): 435-445.

it is always possible that we will not establish controls. Or that someone will manage to create artificial, self-reproducing organisms far sooner than anyone expected. If so, it is difficult to anticipate what the consequences might be. (Crichton, 2002, Prey, p. xi)

“When technology bites back”Edward Tenner

brain chipssynthetic biology

alternative energy sourceremote health monitoring

eating disorder treatmentgrey goo

artificial lifebio-weapons

green goo

self-replicating nano-botstissue engineering

drug deliverybiosensors

surface properties of implants

biological scaffold

Screenshot from: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Image credit: stelarc

“a new technology stabilizes when the ideasof various interest groups coalesce

around a particular design.”

Pinch TJ, Bijker W (1987) The social construction of factsand artifacts. In: Bijker W, Hughes TP, Pinch TJ (eds) The

social construction of technological systems. MIT,Cambridge, MA, pp 17–50