There’s an arms race between government patent offices and patent filers assisted by private law firms. The folks who work for the former get paid a lot less than the those who work for the latter. This leads to a continual drain away from government review of patent applications toward private generation of patent applications.… Continue reading Patent office arms race will hurt nanotechnology
Registration is now open to new and renewing Senior Associate members; cost for Senior Associate members to attend the meeting is $65. Space is limited. Join us! —Christine 1st Foresight Unconference to Be Held November 3-4 in Silicon Valley Event will explore nanotechnology, advanced software, life extension, future technologies Palo Alto, CA — Foresight Nanotech… Continue reading Foresight Unconference on nanotechnology, advanced software, future technologies
Over at the CRN website they have a guest post by author David Brin on nanotechnology ethics: What I find relentlessly tedious (and, alas, ubiquitous) is the tendency to assume that the objective is actually to see ahead. It is not. The objective is to do what Einstein called gedankenexperimentation: pondering the range of possibilities… Continue reading David Brin on nanotechnology ethics
The Heritage Foundation portrays itself as a conservative think tank, and by gosh, they are! Specifically, they are conservative on the longer term prospects for nanotechnology: In the more distant future, combining nanocomputers, sensors, and nanomechanical architectures into one system would make possible autonomously targeted and guided projectiles, such as bullets and rockets. Nanotechnology could… Continue reading Heritage Foundation: Conservative on nanotechnology too
Alan Shalleck of NanoClarity writes over at Nanotechnology Now on how the U.S. should go about planning its future federal funding of nanotech. Excerpts: It is time to explore what the next three to five year national nanotechnology funding allocation will look like. We have already benefited from two multiple-year, multibillion-dollar Presidentially-endorsed Federal programs and… Continue reading The next national nanotechnology program
Forbes.com did a poll to find out what human body enhancements their readers would most like. The poll seems to be gone, but nanotechnology commentator Gregor Wolbring quotes it in his own column: Smarter brain (403 votes – 29 %) Wings (230 votes – 17 %) Breathe underwater (147 votes – 11 %) Stylish, furry… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Enhancement goals for human body
Nanowerk brings to our attention a new report Democratic technologies? The final report of the Nanotechnology Engagement Group (pdf) which examines the success or otherwise of various attempts at public engagement in nanotech. The foreword by Prof. Richard Jones ends: This report summarises the experiences of public engagement on nanotechnologies that have taken place over… Continue reading Does public engagement in nanotechnology work?
US Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose), who has played a key role in previous US nanotechnology legislation and won the 2005 Foresight Institute Government Prize, has introduced a wide-ranging new nanotech bill, described by Nanowerk. In addition to addressing risks: The NANO ACT includes a number of provisions to create partnerships, raise awareness, and implement… Continue reading Nanotechnology bill introduced by Rep. Honda
The new book Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology is now out. From the press release: Examining the impact of nanotechnology on society, “Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology”…offers incisive essays on the potential risks and rewards of applications of nanotechnology written by both proponents and critics of this burgeoning technology.… Continue reading Nanotechnology explored in new Nanoethics book
First, I should state that I yield to no one when it comes to caring about the environment. That’s what got me interested in nanotechnology in the first place, and a large part of why Foresight was founded in 1986 and keeps going today. So I was disappointed with the recent press release from a… Continue reading Nanotechnology: Activists throw baby out with bathwater
