Article: Probing Nanotech's 'Dark Side'

From: Brett Paatsch (paatschb@optusnet.com.au)
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 01:15:26 MDT

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    $5 million a year for an American National Preparedness
    Centre (who thinks these names up) to examining ethical
    issues relating to nanotechnology. Looks like the job
    prospects for ethicist are getting rosier. I wonder if they
    multiply in proportion to the number of issues, or if they
    get even a little bit thinner as nanotech, joins stem cells
    and GM food as something to be 'deeply concerned'
    about. I suspect its the former.

    - Brett Paatsch
    (Actually maybe an 'open' review of the safety of
    nanotech may be better than a govt block as a result of
    someone deeming that nano has weaponry implications)

    -------
    Probing Nanotech's 'Dark Side'
    http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2003/701/2

    "The U.S. Congress is on the verge of approving legislation
     that would require the government to examine the implications
    of nanotechnology as it pumps funds into the promising field.
    The U.K. government is also moving to probe nanotech's
    promise and peril.

    Researchers have touted nanotechnology--an array of
    techniques that allow the manipulation of matter at the atomic
    scale--as the next big thing, producing everything from better
    materials to tiny robots. But some commentators warn of a
    darker side. Prominent computer scientist Bill Joy, for instance,
    worries about the creation of self-replicating "nanobots" that
    could run amok, coating Earth in a blanket of "gray goo."
    Such scenarios are unlikely, argue mainstream researchers.
    Still, many say that the growing field's potential impacts
    deserve a closer look.

    The House and Senate have recently worked on bills
    (H.R. 766 and S. 189) that would require the government to
    fund studies on the social, economic, and environmental
    impacts of civilian nanotechnology. The House bill orders
    the government to report on "the development of safe
    nanotechnology," including a study of its use for
    self-reproducing machines, artificial intelligence, and "human
    brain extenders." A bill passed in June by the Senate
    Commerce Committee would authorize $5 million a year for
    a special American Nanotechnology Preparedness Center
    to examine ethical issues relating to nanotechnology. The full
    Senate is expected to approve the legislation later this
    summer, and the two bodies will then reconcile their
    differences.

    In Britain, meanwhile, the government last month asked the
    Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to
    review nanotech's ethical and social implications. The joint
    panel, which is expected to hold its first meeting next month,
    aims to "determine where we are with this technology, what
    we want from it, and what safeguards [we] need," says
    chair Ann Dowling, a mechanical engineer at the University
    of Cambridge. A final report is due next spring."

    - Brett Paatsch



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