Technical Considerations in the Foresight Guidelines for Nanotechnology Development
Neil Jacobstein*
Chairman, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing,
Los Altos, CA 94022 USA
This is an abstract
for a presentation given at the
Ninth
Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology.
There will be a link from here to the full article when it is
available on the web.
In February of 1999 molecular nanotechnologists held a workshop in Monterey California and outlined a set of guidelines and safeguards that would support the active development of molecular nanotechnology while minimizing the risks. This talk addresses a number of issues specifically: 1) are the Guidelines justified in asserting that self-replicating molecular assemblers are theoretically feasible?, 2) do the Guidelines characterize appropriately the expected benefits and risks of molecular nanotechnology?, 3) what are the technical strengths and weaknesses of the safeguards proposed?, 4) what are the next steps for technical and policy improvements to the Guidelines?
*Corresponding Address:
Neil Jacobstein
Chairman, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing
123 Fremont Ave., Los Altos, CA 94022 USA
Phone: 650-917-1120
Fax: 650-917-1123
Email: [email protected]
http://www.imm.org/
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