Ethics of Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is actually a fairly new idea. This may not seem like any big deal in terms of ethics, but just like any type of scientific advancement there are positives and negatives. Of course the ethical issues don’t stem out of just the fact that this is a new kind of science. It branches off of “what will this new scientific technology be used for?” For example, Embryonic Stem Cell research. It’s not the research that’s bad it’s how they get the cells. There are half a dozen, maybe more, different places to get the same type of cells without taking the life of that unborn child.
The term, Nanotechnology, was first introduced back in the mid 1970’s by a Japanese researcher named Norio Taniguchi to mean “…precision machinery with tolerance of a micrometer or less” (Kilner 55-56). In the 1986 book by Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation, he brought the word and it’s concept in to the public’s thought. In Layman’s terms the basic idea of Nanotechnology is to make little tiny atomic size robots that can be called upon to do whatever we want them to do. Similar to having a little computer and telling it carry out an assigned task like empty the recycle bin, or something of that sort. Or in this case telling the little robot to float around in a persons body and switch out a section of DNA so that the person’s eyes are green instead of brown. Just so we know how small this a strand of DNA is 2.3 nanometers wide or if you divided a meter stick into 1 billion sections it would be 2.3 sections wide.
In many of the sciences with Nanotechnology being no exception to the rules the ethical issues are much further behind the actual research that is taking place. For some reason the research of hazards with this technology are also far behind. But isn’t that just typical of scientists? I mean here’s a group of scientists, some of the smartest men in their field of study and they automatically take the positives without any consideration for negatives. That just seems typical of the human race in general. If it helps someone then it must be good, who cares how many people we kill.
At the Rice University Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) they were stunned to discover that there had been no research in developing a risk assessment or toxicology model for synthetic nanomaterials. Like-wise and...
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...at Nanomachines should be created for general purposes with artificial intelligence (A.I.). In any case I find it very difficult to excuse the potential of these tiny little machines and their unforeseeable value. But like any other science it must be treated with care to help maintain and limit the potential harm that this microscopic technology could inflict upon us.
Works Cited
1. Chen, Andrew. “The Ethics of Nanotechnology.” online posting. March 2002. Actionbioscience. 10 Feb. 2005. .
2. Colvin Vicki. “Responsible Nanotechnology: Looking Beyond the Good News.” online posting. 2002. 10 Feb. 2005 .
3. Kilner, John F., C. Christopher Cook, Diann B. Uustal, eds. Cutting Edge Bioethics: A Christian Exploration of Technologies and Trends. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm B. Eerdman Publishing Company. 2002.
4. Kilner, John F., Rebecca D. Pentz, Frank E. Young, eds. Genetic Ethics. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm B. Eerdman Publishing Company. 1997.
5. Mnyusiwalla, Anisa, Abdallah S Daar, Peter A Singer. “Nanotechnology”
Mind the gap: science and ethics in Nanotechnology. 14.3 (March 2003): R9-R13.
6. The Ethics of Nanotechnology. 1999-2005. 7thWave, Inc.10 Feb. 2005 .
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Savulescu, Julian. “Genetic Interventions and the Ethics of Human Beings.” Readings in the Philosophy of Technology. Ed. David Kaplan. 2nd ed. Lanham: Roman & Littlefield, 2009. 417-430.
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