Social and Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology: Lessons from Biotechnology and Other High Technologies

BIOTECHNOLOGY CAN BE BROADLY DEFINED as the use of specially bred living organisms to solve problems and produce new products or, more narrowly, as the intentional alteration of living organisms by manipulation of their DNA. In either case, nanotechnology—that is, the creation of moleculesize machines and other devices and the manipulation of substances molecule by molecule—will play an increasingly important role. The ability to custom build portions of DNA and other chemicals bit by bit and the potential to create machines that can interact with, or even penetrate cells of a living organism, will have a profound affect on biotechnology. Numerous articles have recently been written about the convergence of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other high technologies. For example, in 2002, The National Science Foundation published a lengthy set of papers on “Converging Technologies For Improved Human Performance,” which explored numerous aspects of the convergence of biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences. In explaining the background for the project, the report begins: