Compiling the ethical, legal and social implications of nanotechnology.

• Author: Lopez, Jose

Abstract

This paper maintains that although there is much interest at the moment in exploring the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) of nanotechnology, the ability to do so in a critical and reflective way, in part, depends on how nanotechnology's future is envisioned. It is argued that, at present, this vision is articulated through the novum, a narrative device borrowed from the science fiction (SF) genre. The paper concludes by arguing that the widely shared narratives about nanotechnology's future, structured by the novum, not only limit the types of ELSI questions that can be addressed but also lead to a polarized debate. It is also suggested that the device of the novum also obscures the heterogeneous nature of nanotechnology itself.

Introduction

At present social scientists, amongst others, are being asked to help "compile" the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of developments in nanotechnology. This task is more difficult than might appear because, in part, the nanotechnology program is emerging in a discursive space that limits the types of questions that can be posed. This space draws on narrative forms from the science fiction (SF) genre to visualize nanotechnology's future.

To invoke the presence of SF elements is not to deny impressive developments in the field of nanotechnology. However, as commentators have noted the nanotechnology era is both present and absent. Inasmuch as there have been important developments in the ability to work at the nanoscale with precision, the nanotech era is present; but inasmuch as significant technical advances are still required to open up the nanotech "frontier", it is not (1) This creates the necessity of projecting nanotechnology into a future. In what follows, I shall describe how narrative devices from SF are used for this purpose and discuss the consequences this has for analyses of ELSI.

Nanotechnology and Science Fiction

Nanotechnology as a research and industrial program is leveraged by exorbitant promissory notes regarding the creation of wealth and productivity. Hype is not uncommon in science and technology discourse. (2) However, a significant number of nanotechnology advocates not only extrapolate highly beneficial outcomes from existing and predicted technologies, they also use the technologies to imagine radically different futures. (3)

For instance, Eric Drexler, in his book Engines of Creation, envisions a future where nanomachines or assemblers will make possible molecular manufacturing processes that fuel both engines of abundance and health. (4) Along the way to the "positive-sum society" intelligent machines shall be produced, societies will develop expert systems to manage their development, and aging will become just another treatable disease. These assemblers have yet to be produced but Drexler's writing narrates their coming as unavoidable.

If one leaves aside the technical argument regarding the viability of molecular assemblers (5), there are a number of narrative elements in his book that make nanomachines both credible and inevitable. He begins by...