New essays explore consequences of molecular manufacturing

Filed in archive Society & Ethics on June 1, 2006

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has put together a nice set of essays covering a wide range of nanotech topics. Some of the highlights:

"If we believe that nanotechnology will eventually amount to a technological revolution, and if we are going to attempt nanoethics, then we might do well to consider some of the earlier technological revolutions that humanity has undergone. .... If such a comparison were made, we might for example become more modest about our ability to predict or anticipate the long-term consequences of what we were about to do."

"Many experts argue that each of these forms of super-intelligence will enhance humans, not replace them, and although they might seem alien to unenhanced humans, they will still be an extension of us because we are the ones who designed them. The thought behind this is that we will go on as a species. Critics, however, point to a fly in that ointment."

As you can see, we're not talking about the effects of nanoparticle-containing sunscreen here. CRN focuses on "molecular manufacturing", which is a ways off in its everyday application but quite profound in its implications.

These essays address the potential impact of molecular manufacturing applications like desktop nanofactories (pictured above - photo Lizard Fire Studio). Essays on the political, social and legal implications of molecular manufacturing include:

1. Nanoethics and Technological Revolutions: A Précis - by Nick Bostrom
2. From The Enlightenment to N-Lightenment - by Michael Buerger
3. What Price Freedom? - by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
4. The (Needed) New Economics of Abundance - by Steve Burgess
5. Economic Impact of the Personal Nanofactory - by Robert A. Freitas Jr.
6. Corporate Cornucopia - by Michael Vassar
7. Molecular Manufacturing and the Developing World: Looking to Nanotechnology For Answers - by Don Maclurcan
8. Considering Military Implications of Nanofactory-level Nanotechnology - by Brian Wang
9. Molecular Manufacturing and the Need for Crime Science - by Deborah Osborne
10. Safer Molecular Manufacturing Through Nanoblocks - by Tom Craver
11. Are We Enlightened Guardians, Or Are We apes Designing Humans? - by Douglas Mulhall