I have been telling people about nanotechnology for ten years now. In the beginning I was a "kook" to most people. I learned to be more persuasive and subtle in my sharing and about five or six years ago people began to listen.
The need to be persuasive has faded away. It is rare for me to find someone who does not know about nanotechnology these days and I almost never encounter someone who resists the concept as unrealistic. So, now the conversation has shifted to the discussion of the politics of nanotechnology.
That this awareness is now spreading to the popular culture is shown in a major way by the appearance of a cover story on nanotechnology in Parade magazine, the nearly universal supplement to Sunday papers across the US. How nanotechnology is changing our world, by Michael Crichton, appeared in the Nov. 24, 2002 issue. The inside title was Could Tiny Machines Rule the World? with the introductory blurb
Today's era of technological power offers enormous promise for the future. But, as the best selling author of The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park reminds us, enormous dangers also may lie ahead.
The Parade article presents an insightful and balanced introduction to nanotechnology, and prominently cites the views of K. Eric Drexler and the Foresight Institute (I am a Senior Associate of the Foresight Institute). The article also heralded the release of Crichton's new novel Prey, a techno-thriller portraying development of nanotechnology done badly.
In the novel, nanotechnology is implemented without regard to the safety principles embodied in the Foresight Guidelines on Molecular Nanotechnology, and the results are disastrous. Whether the specific portrayal in the novel of self-replicating, evolving nanobots is well grounded in technical reality is another question, however. Even if Crichton did not get all of the details correct, his message that careless and irresponsible development of nanotechnology can lead to very bad outcomes has been Foresight's message since 1986.
Since Crichton's scenario is likely to get even greater exposure as the novel has now become a movie, the debate, both within the nanotechnology community and between nanotechnology advocates and other groups, about what nanotechnology is, what it will mean, and what policies should regulate it will be necessary and desirable. The discussion is likely to intensify during the coming months and years.
For more information about these matters, check these articles on Nanodot, the Foresight Institute's blog:
"Nanotechnology in Parade magazine"
"'Prey' Critique"
"Business Week on Crichton novel"
"The Economist looks at nanotechnology"
"Tech Central Station on Falling Prey to Science Fiction"
