Maxx Wright

Article Review on the Sociological Effects of Nanotechnology

The future development and implications of Nanotechnology are, without contest, highly anticipated by members of the scientific, medical, tactical and engineering communities. The concept of being in control of "beyond-microscopic" technology is a miracle that is insanely difficult for anyone to wrap their minds around. This article, The Expectation and Emergence of Nanotechnology written by Cynthia Selin and presented by the Society for Social Studies of Science, explores the process of expectation and the direct effect and role that expectations will be playing as an incredibly innovative field opens onto the scene of human science and creativity. This article defines the discussion surrounding nanotechnology and the effects that its emergence could induce in public opinion and in scientific communities alike while carefully illustrating both the negative and positive thought processes surrounding nanotech. I enjoy the equal bias presented and appreciate the time devoted to presenting the matter in lights that could inhibit and enable the development of new ideas and concepts. Most articles simply push a point, and a few may fairly represent different sides of an issue, but I have never seen such an equal balance as this article utilizes to describe the emergence of nanotechnology. However, nanotechnology advancement has exploded past a period of emergence in this day and into what I call a "transitional application" phase in which the world is no longer being introduced to the concept. Scientists and engineers are instead attempting to exercise their control of nanotechnology in our society and, in a nutshell, it has already been introduced at the time this article became relevant. I enjoy this article and its detailed examination of nanotechnical expectation, but I want to push and ask the next question: What will we do, what actions will be taken to safeguard and enhance our future, now that this technology is being implemented even as I write? The afore mentioned article was written in 2009 and does an incredible job of documenting the thoughts and ideas of scholarly individuals and unscholarly individuals alike from a fairly wide time

span, thus illustrating a well balanced set of expectations for the future of nanotechnology. It mentions that "Our task is to trace the representations of the future of nanotechnology and to determine the role of such expectations..."(207) These expectations were gleaned by the author of this article to set up a prediction of societal reactions to various uses of new tech and prepare for potential situations in which global guidelines may need to be enacted to protect the many from those who could do harm, intentionally or unintentionally, with the use of little understood concepts. However, I would like to raise a valid point in the fact that this author, Cynthia Selin, focused closely on the conjecturing of certain sensational actors, who were presented thoughts on nanotechnology when it was simply a idea, in the scene of nanotechnology expectation and left out the vitally important analysis of current reactions in media, public opinion and world power government speculation currently occurring as this very real and present technology has left the drawing table and begun to appear in our medicine, war tactics and applied science. I believe that this data outweighs any past predictions or musings as it provides real time assessment of worldwide opinions and societal or cultural impacts that brand new concepts will wreak. Fear, ignorance and media all play a powerful role in conditioning a public and general thought process and response to concepts that are yet to be well understood by the general public. Today, we often see projections of nanotechnology set on the same level as alien forces or unattainable future technology for desired protagonistic presence in modern war or action movies and novels. This steers the thought process surrounding nanotech in younger generations who will be dealing firsthand with the effects of this new concept. It is very important that we consider the effects of this kind of negative propaganda in the conditioning of general reactions to any new factors on the playing field of human innovation. The academic article above states an interesting sociological question when it asks "Why is nanotechnology so alluring and demonic? Since when did chemistry and engineering become the work

of prophets and magicians?" Since the concept of nano-scaled technology became realized in 1981, the scientific and unscientific communities alike have been both fascinated and horrified by the implications of nanotechnology. The reality that we can control and enforce human will beyond the microscopic realm with beyond-microscopic technology is a realization that leaves awe in its wake. This article effectively portrays how a man made construct with versatility as both a weapon and a healing mechanism, a destructive factor or a regenerative force can bring, and has brought, troubling concerns and thoughts to the world existing in nanotechnology's emerging state. Historical figures and their theoretical thought processes were apparently so important to the author of this article, that she devoted much of her time setting the foundation for and then presenting their proposals. However, we are now on the brink of a new era in human advancement and we are no longer granted the luxury of sitting back on our haunches and simply assessing the consequences of such power by reasoning with great thinkers, alive or dead, and their ideas. William Bainbridge, in his article the Sociciocultural Meanings of Nanotechnology, said that "Public perceptions of nanotechnology are signicant for several reasons. Policy-makers, especially if they are not themselves technically trained in the appropriate area, will be guided in part by assumptions they share with the general public."(1) We are now in the early stages of a new period in history and it is important to grasp the rapidity with which nanotechnology has begun to implant itself in our modern scientific endeavors. Cynthia Selin, in the article we were originally examining, left out much that could be said about current responses being taken to safeguard our future. How will this force be regulated? Will there be laws in place to prohibit certain applications of the mechanics of nano-scale manufacturing? There has now been much documentation dedicated to these concepts, but this documentation needs to transform into action quickly before the multi-faceted components of nanotechnology can be taken advantage of, or misused, by the ever erroneous endeavors of humanity.

After analyzing The Expectation and Emergence of Nanotechnology, written by Cynthia Selin, and personally comparing it to other sources compiling reactions to the coming of the versatile and powerful concept of nanotechnology, I found it to be an excellent and unbiased presentation of visions and expectations of a variety of scientists and scholars concerning the future of science, engineering and medicine. It showed multiple perspectives and understandings, from the minds of thinkers and scientists like Eric Drexler and Richard Smalley, on how nanotechnology will effect our world and be implemented in it. In addition it documented the musings and ideas presented by several key "actors", as they were referred to, or spokespersons who had taken differing stands in history or fairly recently on how we should react and how we would see nanotech becoming key parts of our lives and perhaps an integral part of our future. While this was a well written article with a good balance an sampling of ideas from across a spectrum of anticipation, there was a general lack of ideas and responses of the public and of scientists who were currently working with nanotechnology or seeing their lives effected by it. This article was written to be relevant in a time where nanotech is now a reality and one that is becoming a debating point at family dinner tables and in world government circles. It is being implemented and pursued now as a solution to multiple world problems and potential problems. Though this article is very well presented, and provides an important documentation of nanotech anticipation, I would have liked to see current actions and reactions to this technology, that has such frightening and hope-inspiring attributes, included to provide us with some idea as to how our world was responding to this new scientific frontier.

WORKS CITED

Smith, Lloyd M. "Molecular Robots on the Move." News and Views. Nature, 13 May 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Online.

Bainbridge, Williams Sims. "Socio-cultural Meanings of Nanotechnology: Research Methodologies." Journal of Nanoparticle Research, 10 Jan. 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Online.

Lund, Kyle, and Erik Winfree. "Molecular Robots Guided by Prescriptive Landscapes." Nature, 13 May 2010. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Online.

Kumar, Saravana. "Nanotechnology in Dentistry." Periodontics Review, 2006. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.Online.

Selin, Cynthia. "Expectations and the Emergence of Nanotechnology." Society for Social Studies of Science, 2007. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. Online.