Introduction
Current Approaches
Now, where this world is not vouchsafed us on its own—that is, by evil already present—it becomes our duty to seek it out by an effort of reason and imagination, so that it can instill in us the fear whose guidance we need. That is the case with the “ethics of the future” which we are looking for, where that which is to be feared has never yet happened and has perhaps no analogies in past or present experience. Then the creatively imagined malum has to take over the role of the experienced malum, and this imagination does not arise on its own but must be intentionally induced. Therefore the anticipatory conjuring up of this imagination becomes itself the first, as it were introductory, duty of the ethics we are speaking about ([16]: 27).
The Desirable Role of Ethics in Nanotechnological R&D
Pleas for a Moratorium
I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further perfection of extreme evil, an evil whose possibility spreads well beyond that which weapons of mass destruction bequeathed to the nation-states, on to a surprising and terrible empowerment of extreme individuals.
Unfortunately, as with nuclear technology, it is far easier to create destructive uses for nanotechnology than constructive ones. Nanotechnology has clear military and terrorist uses, and you need not be suicidal to release a massively destructive nanotechnological device—such devices can be built to be selectively destructive, affecting, for example, only a certain geographical area or a group of people who are genetically distinct.
An immediate consequence of the Faustian bargain in obtaining the great power of nanotechnology is that we run a grave risk - the risk that we might destroy the biosphere on which all life depends. […]
The only realistic alternative I see is relinquishment: to limit development of the technologies that are too dangerous, by limiting our pursuit of certain kinds of knowledge [17].
Verifying compliance will … require that scientists and engineers adopt a strong code of ethical conduct, resembling the Hippocratic oath, and that they have the courage to whistleblow as necessary, even at high personal cost [17].
At this stage, we know practically nothing about the potential cumulative impact of human-made nano-scale particles on human health and the environment. Given the concerns raised over nanoparticle contamination in living organisms, governments should declare an immediate moratorium on commercial production of new nanomaterials and launch a transparent global process for evaluating the socio-economic, health and environmental implications of the technology ([8]: 25).
Promoting Nanotechnology
The effect of nanotechnology on the health, wealth, and lives of people could be at least as significant as the combined influences of microelectronics, medical imaging, computer-aided engineering, and man-made polymers developed in this century (cited in [27]: 64).
Ethical, Legal, Societal Implications and Workforce Education and Training efforts will be undertaken to promote a new generation of skilled workers in the multidisciplinary perspectives necessary for rapid progress in nanotechnology ([36], my emphasis).
It seems that, for US policy makers, “societal concerns” … means critical concerns by members or groups of the society, which can be ethical, legal, environmental, or other “appropriate” concerns, and which should be addressed and prevented by participatory models and education to make the American society “prepared” for nanotechnology. The broader concept, “societal implications”, … includes, … the impact of ideas about future nanotechnology on such concerns, but excludes the impact of ideas in society on the development of nanotechnology ([27]: 66, my emphasis)
Comparing the Positions
Joy | NNI | |
---|---|---|
Expected effects on society | Nanotechnology poses great risks for humanity | Nanotechnology brings great benefits to mankind |
Drivers of nanotechnological development | Development of nanotechnology is mainly driven by economical and military considerations; moral and social aspects are neglected, unless enforced by society | Development of nanotechnology may well be inhibited because people distrust nanotechnology due to lack of communication and lack of knowledge |
Role of fear | Useful, if not necessary, to discover what is at stake and to trigger the right emotions for addressing the ethical issues at stake | Misguiding the public and a possible cause that inhibits nanotechnological development |
Role of ethics | Ethics should help to set, and verify, a moratorium on nanotechnology | Ethics is to improve the communication from science to society and so to promote the further development of nanotechnology |
Does Nanotechnology Raise New Ethical Issues?
What is New?
It is difficult to specify exactly what could make an area of technology so special that it needs its own ethics, but a minimal requirement must be that it either raises ethical issues that are not raised by other kinds of technologies, or that it raises ethical issues of a different (i.e. larger) magnitude than other technologies. Is this the case for nanotechnology? ([15]: 1).
The propagation of nano-ethics overlooks the fact that many of the ethical questions raised by nanotechnology are already known from other contexts of ethical reflection. The ethics of technology, bioethics, the ethics of medicine or also the theoretical philosophy of technology concern themselves with questions of sustainability, of risk assessment, of the interface between human beings and technology, especially between living beings and technology. These questions are in themselves not new … ([13]: 198).
Partially new, however, is their [i.e. of the various ethical issues, IvdP] convergence in nanotechnology. Analogous to the well-known fact that nanosciences and nanotechnology are fields in which the traditional borders between physics, chemistry, biology, and the engineering sciences are crossed, various traditional lines of ethical reflection also converge in ethical questions in nanotechnology ([13]: 198).
New Normative Standards?
Ethical reflection on nanotech requires that we apply ethical principles to new domains, but it does not demand new principles. An example: As nanoscience spawns developments in nanomedicine, concerns arise related to experimentation on human subjects. These innovative treatments will sometimes use novel methods of delivery (e.g., drugs dispensed to tumors inside engineered molecules such as fullerenes). Yet the principles governing research will remain unchanged. Researchers must continue focusing on informed consent, risk minimization, and the protection of vulnerable populations [19].
While there is thus a great need for ethical analysis of the many ethical issues raised by the different developments in nanotechnology, there is no need for a specific nanoethics. The toolbox developed in applied ethics during the last 35 years probably already contains the necessary tools for the analysis of nanotechnology ([15]: 3).