We’ve previously pointed out the usefulness of looking at future-oriented fiction as a way of stimulating thinking about nanotechnology. Now Annalee Newitz’s io9 site brings an interview of Kathleen Ann Goonan, who “was writing about nanotech before most people even know it existed.” An excerpt:
I think that, for me, nanotech has been a metaphor for the power of thought, and for the power of language. This may sound odd, but it seems that the more we understand matter and the more we are able to manipulate it and to make decisions about how and why to do so, the better we understand ourselves.
Well put! Oddly, some seem to feel that knowing the physical world better — including our own brains/minds — undermines something wonderful about being human. This has always seemed wrong to me. It just gets more and more exciting as we learn more, and appreciate more, just how amazing living things are. —Christine
