Bioconservatives express hope for nanotech

The Center for Bioethics and Culture, which sponsors the Technosapiens conference series, has published an essay by CBC Fellow Jodi Lamoureux on hype in nanotech. After critiquing comments by Richard Smalley, she summarizes: “It is not technology that gives mankind freedom from evil, but mankind that puts technology to good use. The corollary is that mankind can also put technology to bad use. It is up to us to steel our wills and to be good stewards over the technology at our disposal…Restating the promise without the hype – technology can reduce part of our suffering and some of our wars and terrorism…I do share the hope, however, that technology will be used well by humankind to mitigate human suffering. Beyond the hype, there is beauty in this hope, and a reason for striving to develop good technologies used to good purpose.” Indeed. CBC must like nanotech overall, since for a $50 donation they will send you a copy of Engines of Creation. Perhaps this is thanks to medical ethicist Christopher Hook MD, a CBC director and Foresight advisor.