Every stage of technological development seems fraught with controversy, but as the speed of technological change accelerates the social, economic, cultural and scientific issues become ever more complex, extensive and difficult to judge. Control of information is control of power. As a result, new technologies are frequently met by fear and consumer resistance. The present digital-age has resurrected the spectre of the fabled Luddites, rebellious village workers in early 19th-century England who tried to stop the onrushing Industrial Revolution.
The last decade has been punctuated by bouts of fear related to Genetically Modified (GM) crops and animals. The latest development is news that British scientists have bred poultry that are genetically resistant to H5N1 or any other avian flu virus, thus severing a major link in the flu’s evolutionary chain. The result, reported in a study in the January issue of Science, is genetically engineered chickens that, while they’re still vulnerable to H5N1, don’t seem to pass on the disease to other poultry.
However, potentially more significant and controversial than even GM technology is the miniaturisation of the materials we use. You are probably more than familiar with the downsizing of technology. Data memory cards for use in cameras, MP3s etc. have becoming increasingly small at the same time that their memory capabilities increase. However, these familiar objects are about to be eclipsed by the developments in nanotechnology – by something we cannot see.
Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner in physics said:
“I want to build a billion tiny factories, models of each other, which are manufacturing simultaneously. . . The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of manoeuvring things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big.”
Nanotechnology is the science of building machines at a subatomic level. When K. Eric Drexler popularized the word ‘nanotechnology’ in the 1980′s, he was talking about building machines on the scale of molecules, a few nanometers wide—motors, robot arms, and even whole computers, far smaller than a cell. Certainly, nanotechnology and nanoscience promise to transform scientific and information technology infrastructure. Nanotechnology is driven not only by a market pull for better products, but also by a push factors from increasing funding of research hoping to open up bigger market opportunities as well as explore the fundamental properties of matter on the nanoscale.
Technophobia is a social and cultural reaction to the perceived dangers of modern technology. Ever since the industrial revolution, many individuals have feared the unintended consequences of technological progress, such as the Luddites and the Amish. It is not surprising, therefore, that there is much horror, revulsion, and delight regarding the promise and peril of nanotechnology explored in science fiction and popular literature. Grey goo, the fear that a self-replicating nanobot set to re-create itself using a highly common atom such as carbon, has been played out by many sources and is the great cliche of nanoparanoia. In Aristoi by Walter John Williams, the Earth is destroyed by a goo dubbed “Mataglap nano” and a second Earth is created, along with a very rigid hierarchy with the Aristoi–or controllers of nanotechnology–at the top of the spectrum. In Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds, a virus called the melding plague converts pre-existing nanotechnology devices to meld and operate in dramatically different ways on a cellular level. This causes the namesake city of the novel to turn into a large, mangled mess wildly distorted by a mass-scale malfunctioning of nanobots.(1)
Since 2000, there has been increasing focus on the health and environmental impact of nanotechnology to ensure possible risks are minimized and benefits are realised. This has resulted in several reports and ongoing surveillance of nanotechnology. Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties is a report by the Royal Academy of Engineering. Nanorisk, a bi-monthly newsletter published by Nanowerk LLC, states the following objectives:
“We want to support a debate on the very real issues that we are facing today: the fact that engineered nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes or titanium dioxide particles are finding their way from scientists’ laboratories into commercial products and we don’t understand the risks they pose to health and environment.”
Indeed, nanotechnology offers huge opportunities (and risks) for business in the creation of machines and processes beyond our imagination a couple of decades ago. Machines that function at a molecular level, medical applications that are astounding and even solutions to climate change with re-engineering of nature. However, you may be surprised to know that nanotechnology is already in everyday products on sale, such as:
- Sunscreens containing nanoparticles of zinc oxide
- Self-cleaning glass in conservatories using nanoparticles to break down and loosen dirt
- Clothing coated with nanoparticles, give better protection from UV radiation. and help repel water and other materials, making the clothing stain-resistant.
- Scratch-resistant coatings on everything from cars to eyeglass lenses
- Tennis racquets – the VS Nanotube Power racket. Is made of carbon nanotube-infused graphite, meaning the racket is very light, yet many times stronger than steel
If you wish to read more, there is an excellent summary of nanotechnology can be found on the ‘howstuffworks’ site and a wonderful animation gallery of nanotechnology machinery can be found here.
For a fascinating discussion of the applications of nanotechnology and the huge potential business opportunities, you may like to watch the following extract from the BBC’s Visions of the Future series with Dr. Michio Kaku.
IB class activity:
Prepare a PEST analysis for a firm thinking of developing nanotechnologies.
IB style written questions:
1. Define the terms:
- nanotechnology
- infrastructure
2. Explain the reasons for the growth of nanotechnologies.
3. Analyse factors affecting new commercial innovations and the role of market research in the development of products using nanotechnologies.
4. Evaluate strategies for reducing the impact of technological change and consumer resistance to these changes.
(1) Nanotechnology/Nano_and_Society
Tags: change, nanotechnology, technology
