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SCIENCE STUDIES EVENTS
ETHICAL ISSUES IN NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY:
A JAPANESE RESPONSE
Leslie Jones
School of Medicine
University of South Carolina
March 29, 2005
Tuesday, 12:30pm-2:00pm
Sumwalt College, Room 102
I recently presented an invited talk at a nanobiotechnology conference in
Japan on the following two topics: first, ethical concerns raised by
nanobiotechnology research, and second, a focus on where the U.S. funding
initiatives lie for nanobiotechnology. I will present a highlighted version
of that talk. The first part described concerns that extend from worries
about effects manufacturing by-products might have on the environment, to
the most extreme fears about turning the world into "gray goo". In fact, I
asserted that the philosophical questions raised by the new lines of
research opened up in the 10-9 world are mostly just reiterations in a new
vocabulary of concerns that have been heard with many other emerging areas
of research in the past. The fears articulated by environmentalists over
nuclear plants, mining, and manufacturing are a distant echo of modern
fears over nanobiotech. Similar issues have arisen with the advent of
genetically modified agricultural products, for example, and recombinant
DNA research, or neuropharmacological medical interventions. I presented
ways in which the arguments used in those debates apply to the present
discussions on biotechnology in the minus 9 realm, and considered if there
are any areas of concern that only pertain to nanobiotechnology.
In the second part of the talk, I gave examples of funding targets as
varied as the Soldiers Institute for Creative Technologies at MIT, funded
in part by the DOD, and the Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team at
the University of South Carolina, funded by the NSF, to indicate the
diversity of funding directions the U.S. government is trying to cover. If
the NSF report on the need for a Nano-, Bio-, Info Science, Cognitive
Science (NBIC) Convergence is any indication, both government and private
sector sources may be directing their monies towards goals in the future
that may surprise the general public, human enhancement being the most
obvious. After presenting a speedy version of what I gave in Japan, I would
like to share some of my observations of how "ethical issues in
nanotechnology" are received by Japanese scientists and business people, as
that was largely who came to the conference. The community of
philosophers/ethicists who might be examining the ramifications of the
nano- lines of research appears to be small, and their impact on Japanese
scientists not very apparent. In fact, my presence and my talk seemed to
strike many as rather perplexing. As in, "What's all the hubbub, bub"?
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