The rise of blogging has had an unexpected impact on U.S. politics (although how much impact, and in what direction, are not yet certain). You can sample widely read views from differing points on the political spectrum at, for example, Instapundit and This Modern World.
I mention this for two reasons. First, it gives us hope that blogging, whether on our site or elsewhere might actually make a difference in determining sensible nanotech policy. And second, practically no one saw this coming. The future is notoriously hard to predict. We can’t be certain that another form of public expression might not spring up at some point and have significant influence. In fact, it seems a safe bet that something will occur that no one has yet envisioned. That’s how our world works in these days of accelerating change.
A relatively new factor currently affecting political discussion is non-fiction movies, sometimes referred to as documentaries. The most obvious one is Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. But there have been others and there will be more. This is another development that was not widely anticipated, but that may represent an important new mode of expression and influence.
What if a talented non-fiction filmmaker was to turn his attention to molecular manufacturing? Could this be a way of informing the public about the serious and urgent risks and benefits of this powerful new technology? As noted, it’s difficult to predict, but stranger things have happened…
Mike Treder
That could be very useful. But you said you wanted a non-fiction documentary, so I recommend avoiding Michael Moore for this film.
Posted by: Janessa Ravenwood | June 28, 2004 at 10:30 AM
just a quick question: was there any special reason to link to your blog´s main page from your blog´s main page, other than demonstrating infinity loops maybe? Just wondering...
Posted by: Matt | June 28, 2004 at 11:58 AM
Good question, Matt. The reasoning was that this blog entry will gradually slide down the list into the archives. If it's being read six months or a year from now by someone who gets there through a search engine, I wanted to give them a direct link to the current active entry. Whether that reasoning makes any sense is open to debate.
Posted by: Mike Treder, CRN | June 28, 2004 at 12:06 PM
Oh never mind, I for sure won´t try to tell you or anybody else how to run his site :) thanks for clarification though...
Posted by: Matt | June 28, 2004 at 12:32 PM
Please get over it. We all understand, as functioning and thinking individuals, what Farenheit 911 is really about, don't we? But what are we doing about it? We still all buy into the same fear technique that we see every single day on headline news. And if you view it and buy into the hype, why criticize anyone? Are any of us really doing anything about it or are we in fear?
Posted by: Brigitte | March 18, 2005 at 06:08 PM