Talk:Impact of nanotechnology

NPOV
I marked this article as NPOV because it does not say anything in favor of Nanotechnology. 65.116.102.4 18:47, 6 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I agree, it is non-NPOV, but you forgot to add the tag. I've done so. I'll be back later to try and start improving the page. GutterMonkey 07:32, 31 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, the tag was there up to this revision, but I removed it when I merged in the material forked out of Nanotechnology. Still feel free to improve it though.  Antony-22 06:05, 2 April 2007 (UTC)


 * This article still appears to be "criticism of nanotechnology" rather than "implications." Rename or fold into the main nanotechnology article? -Kris Schnee (talk) 05:51, 27 November 2007 (UTC)


 * This is waaay too long to fold back into the main article - in fact, I was considering moving more material out from the main article into this one. I'd much rather improve this article by making it more neutral than gloss over the issues by moving or renaming it.  Antony-22 (talk) 06:07, 27 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Looking it over a bit more, I think it's more an issue of tone than of content in most places. I think that the neutrality of the article could be vastly improved with a moderate amount of copyediting.  Antony-22 (talk) 06:35, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

I think the problem is more than an issue of tone, because that the field(s) of "nanotech" are so large and wide-ranging that nothing much seems to separate the implications of nanotech from issues of technology in general. Initial research and perhaps manufacture is mostly done on a molecular scale? There should be more time spent on what issues are specific to nanotechnology, or perhaps evisioning the possibility that "nanotech" has become a meaningless buzzword that describes any science done with powerful microscopes.Cuvtixo (talk) 19:18, 25 January 2008 (UTC)


 * In response to the comments in this section that this article is too negative, actually List of nanotechnology applications could be viewed in a similar but opposite way - as too positive. This article provides some needed balance to that.  Let's face it lots of knowledgeable people are raising serious concerns about nanotechnology.  "Believe me,' Holtz says from her home office in Toronto, 'everybody who has any kind of scientific background, and paying attention to nano, is aware of all this. I certainly worry about it.'" .  Changing the article title to Risks of Nanotechnology would seem appropos to me. 4.246.207.180 (talk) 12:02, 17 May 2008 (UTC)


 * You could add a discussion on how "self-replicator countermeasures" are first responsibly described in the first maker of such a device Charles Michael Collins . Who else would know how to control them than the fist maker, would someone less qualified be allowed to? Pointed out in depth there at the only site (Geocities) that has not been deleted on him... and how the United States Government is trying to bust the international PCT patent and steal it . Government corruption and unbridled power are the real nefarious players on the field. Marine Corps Base Quantico (MCB) actually grabbed him for questioning (see # N004860 United States District Court case at Quantico FBI headquarters where he was kidnapped then dragged onto the MCB Base for hard interrogations and accused of crimes later thrown out with prejudice in the high court, accused of "paranoia" just for talking about having a self-replicator, the Abu Ghraib prison crazys.. Mass hysteria is another discussion point once self-replicators are known to be extant by the public. Look at the Uni-bomber case and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", they have hounded Mr. Collins for years. Balancing it out is the best policy, with a level headed approach, unlike the radically paranoid ELF styled groups. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.114.45.254 (talk • contribs) 10 June 2008
 * FYI:   71.114.45.254 = Charles M Collins Guyonthesubway (talk) 14:43, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Article fork
I have merged in the lengthy "Societal Implications" section from Nanotechnology. Antony-22 05:05, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Nanosocialism?- I don't think so!!
Someone entered nanosocialism as the main article category for A need for regulation? section under Health Implications. Nanosocialism is actually a very small stub- not a complete article. I suspect the label was coined to arouse ideological argument and isn't a useful or even legitimate term for describing the implications of nanotech outside of science fiction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cuvtixo (talk • contribs) 13:56, 25 January 2008


 * That's a fair criticism. I've actually been thinking of renaming Nanosocialism to Regulation of nanotechnology and merging in a bunch of the material from this article, since it's getting pretty long.  Antony-22 (talk) 04:29, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

"Grey goo"
"Grey goo" is not a potential risk.

Wikkrockiana (talk) 16:46, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Can you expand on that comment? According to grey goo, "Grey goo is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves". -Phoenixrod (talk) 16:48, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Putting POV issues to rest
There have been presistent complaints that this article focuses too much on the negative implications of nanotechnology. I did a bit of thinking and realized that the positive implications are in face all the potential applications, so I've done some reorganization to feature both the risks and applications in this article.

Additionally, I split a bunch of material into three subarticles on the health, envrionmental, and societal implications. Each of them contains both the risks and the potenial applications with wikilinks to appropriate subarticles. There is also a new navbox to link them all together.

These articles still need a lot of work, but hopefully these changes have lead to a suite of more focused and more balanced articles.

Antony-22 (talk) 20:52, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced, spurious overgeneralization
I removed the following paragraph from the article:

"On the structural level, critics of nanotechnology point to a new world of ownership and corporate control opened up by nanotechnology. The claim is that, just as biotechnology's ability to manipulate genes went hand in hand with the patenting of life, so too nanotechnology's ability to manipulate molecules has led to the patenting of matter."

Please do not placing back without sourcing.

"Life" or "Matter" themselves can't be patented. A patent can only claim a right over specific uses, applications, or manufacturing processes of a given compound ("matter") or microorganism ("life"). And all of that can only be done in exchange for explaining the new INVENTION in detail. The expression "patenting matter" and "patenting life" make it sound like a supposed greedy corporation could put patents on everyday life forms or materials, that can't be farther from the truth.

Furthermore, patents are case by case legal monopolies, they're not worldwide, and they don't (and can't) cover every conceivable permutation of use and production means of a new invention. I was tempted to remove the entire paragraph but I just removed the most offensive bit.

As I said, don't put back without a proper source, such that the reader can judge on his own merits if the person QUOTED is saying something reasonable or not. Gratuitous and unsourced overgeneralizations in an encyclopedia are uncalled for Pentalis (talk) 19:58, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Environmental implications of nanotechnology which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RM bot 16:30, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Studies on the impact of nanotechnology
I removed the following list of sources from the article, as all of them are a decade old at this point. I've pasted it here in case anyone finds it useful. Antony–22 (talk⁄contribs) 01:42, 30 June 2016 (UTC)


 * The first major attempt to assess the societal impact of nanotechnology was a workshop held at the National Science Foundation, September 28–29, 2000. A second extensive follow-on workshop was held at NSF December 2–3, 2003. The reports of these meetings were co-edited by Mihail C. Roco and William Sims Bainbridge: Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology: Societal Implications - Maximizing Benefits for Humanity, and Nanotechnology: Societal Implications - Individual Perspectives.
 * The Royal Society's nanotech report was inspired by Prince Charles' concerns about nanotechnology, including molecular manufacturing.  However, the report spent almost no time on molecular manufacturing.  (See Center for Responsible Nanotechnology criticism of omission of molecular manufacturing.)  In fact, the word "Drexler" appears only once in the body of the report (in passing), and "molecular manufacturing" or "molecular nanotechnology" not at all.  The report covers various risks of nanoscale technologies, such as nanoparticle toxicology.  It also provides a useful overview of several nanoscale fields.    The report contains an annex (appendix) on grey goo, which cites a weaker variation of Richard Smalley's contested argument against molecular manufacturing. It concludes that there is no evidence that autonomous, self-replicating nanomachines will be developed in the foreseeable future, and suggests that regulators should be more concerned with issues of nanoparticle toxicology.
 * In 2008, the city of Cambridge, MA in the United States considered whether to institute nanotechnology regulation similar to that in Berkeley, CA, the latter being the only city in the United States to currently regulate nanotechnology. The Cambridge Nanomaterials Advisory Committee's final report of July 2008 recommended against such regulations, recommending instead other steps to facilitate information-gathering about potential effects of nanomaterials.
 * In July 2003 the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued the first research solicitation in the area of nanotechnology impact, "Exploratory Research to Anticipate Future Environmental Issues - Part 2: Impacts of Manufactured Nanomaterials on Human Health and the Environment."   In September 2004 US EPA partnered with the National Science Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control to issue a second research solicitation, "Nanotechnology Research Grants Investigating Environmental and Human Health Effects of Manufactured Nanomaterials: A Joint Research Solicitation - EPA, NSF, NIOSH."
 * In August 2005, a task force consisting of 50+ international experts from various fields was organized by the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology to study the societal impact of molecular nanotechnology.
 * In October 2005, the National Science Foundation announced that it would fund two national centers to research the potential societal impact of nanotechnology. Located at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Arizona State University, researchers at these two centers are exploring a wide range of issues including nanotechnology's historical context, technology assessment, innovation and globalization issues, and societal perceptions of risk.
 * Determining a set of pathways for the development of molecular nanotechnology is now an objective of a broadly based technology roadmap project led by Battelle (the manager of several U.S. National Laboratories) and the Foresight Institute. That roadmap should be completed by early 2007.
 * In October 2006, the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) based at Rice University published a survey of nanomaterial handling practices being used by industrial and academic workplaces on four continents. The survey revealed that more information is needed to protect against the potential occupational risks associated with handling free nanoparticles. ICON also maintains the Virtual Journal of Nanotechnology Environment, Health & Safety (VJ-NanoEHS) which is a compilation of citations to peer-reviewed studies on risk issues.
 * In 2007 Springer SBM started the journal NanoEthics Ethics for Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale. This journal is a multidisciplinary forum for exploration of issues presented by converging technology applications. While the central focus of the journal is on the philosophically and scientifically rigorous examination of the ethical and societal considerations and the public and policy concerns inherent in nanotechnology research and development.
 * Nanotechnologies Summary of the assessment on the safety of nanotechnologies by DG-SANCO's Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks
 * Center for Nanotechnology in Society @ Arizona State University is a major NSF-funded research center focused on analyses of the societal impact of nanotechnology.
 * American Elements' "information center" on the past, present, and future impacts of nanotechnology.

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