Responsible Nanotechnology

Stanford's Singularity Summit

If you're going to be anywhere close to the San Francisco Bay Area (California) on Saturday, May 13, this looks like a don't-miss event:

Stanford University's Symbolic Systems Program and the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence are co-sponsoring the Singularity Summit, a one-day event free to the public, to be held at Stanford Memorial Auditorium.

The event will bring together leading futurists and others to examine the implications of the "Singularity" -- a hypothesized creation of superintelligence as technology accelerates over the coming decades -- to address the profound implications of this radical and controversial scenario.

"The Singularity will be a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed," said Ray Kurzweil, keynote speaker and author of the best-selling The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. "Based on models of technology development that I've used to forecast technological change successfully for more than 25 years, I believe computers will pass the Turing Test by 2029, and by the 2040s our civilization will be billions of times more intelligent."

"Some regard the Singularity as a positive event and work to hasten its arrival, while others view it as unlikely, or even dangerous and undesirable," said Todd Davies, associate director of Stanford's Symbolic Systems Program. "The conference will bring together a range of thinkers about AI, nanotechnology, cognitive science, and related areas for a public discussion of these important questions about our future."

Noted speakers at the event also will include cognitive scientist Douglas R. Hofstadter, author of the Pulitzer prize-winning Gödel, Escher, Bach; nanotechnology pioneer K. Eric Drexler; science-fiction novelist Cory Doctorow; philosopher Nick Bostrom; Acceleration Studies Foundation president John Smart; PayPal founder and Clarium Capital Management president Peter Thiel; Steve Jurvetson, a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; and Sebastian Thrun, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory director and Project Lead of the Stanford Racing Team (DARPA Grand Challenge $2 million winner).

I've accepted an invitation to attend as a "VIP" guest, and I plan to do some live-blogging of the event. Note that the Singularity Summit is free to the public, but it's strongly recommended, due to overwhelming demand, that you register in advance.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

CTF Essays, Group 2

Here's a little teaser for the next group of nanotechnology essays from members of CRN's Global Task Force...

Nanoethics and Technological Revolutions: A Précis - Nick Bostrom

From The Enlightenment to N-Lightenment - Michael Buerger

What Price Freedom? - Robert A. Freitas Jr.

The (Needed) New Economics of Abundance - Steve Burgess

Economic Impact of the Personal Nanofactory - Robert A. Freitas Jr.

Corporate Cornucopia - Michael Vassar

Molecular Manufacturing and the Developing World: Looking to Nanotechnology For Answers - Don Maclurcan

Considering Military Implications of Nanofactory-level Nanotechnology - Brian Wang

Molecular Manufacturing and the Need for Crime Science - Deborah Osborne

Safer Molecular Manufacturing Through Nanoblocks - Tom Craver

Are We Enlightened Guardians, Or Are We Apes Designing Humans? - Douglas Mulhall

Covering topics from commerce to criminology, from ethics to economics, and from our remote past to our distant future, this new collection illustrates the profound transformation that nanotechnology will have on every aspect of human society.

It's been a great experience for us to work closely with and learn from them such knowledgeable authors. We're excited about the opportunity of presenting these essays to you in the next issue of Nanotechnology Perceptions. That issue is due on May 8, and, as before, we will post the essays online at KurzweilAI.net and at Wise-Nano.org.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Environmental Management of Nanotechnology

CRN has accepted the invitation to participate in a symposium on "Nanotechnology Governance: Environmental Management from a Global Perspective" scheduled for May 19, 2006 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. It will be co-hosted by the Environmental Law Institute and the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies.

The Symposium, which will include approximately 40 invited participants from both the public and private sectors, is intended to:

1. Focus on the development of environmental, health, and safety governance structures for nanotechnology from an international perspective.
2. Examine how nanotechnology governance structures, including traditional regulation, voluntary programs, industry standards, disclosure, and other approaches, are developing in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
3. Consider the implications for corporate environmental management of the development of disparate governance approaches.

We'll provide more information as the event draws nearer...

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Nanotechnology & Anthropology

Michigan State University journal considers nanotech from a social science perspective:

Nanotechnology news generally is made by scientists and engineers tinkering with miniscule bits of matter in novel ways. But a new issue of a niche anthropology journal urges social scientists and society to jump into the nano-fray.

Michigan State University anthropologist John Stone served as guest co-editor for the spring issue of Practicing Anthropology, which takes a cover-to-cover look at social issues associated with nanotech’s emergence. The special issue – focused exclusively on nanotechnology in society – is a first-of-its kind effort among North American social science journals.

“National interest in nanotech crosses private, government, academic and nonprofit sectors,” said Stone, a researcher at MSU’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards. “This special issue of the journal presents multidisciplinary social science applications and contributions in each of these domains.”

Amy Wolfe, who leads a team of economists and social scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, co-edited the journal with Stone. Contributing authors cut across a range of institutions, including Intel Corp., the Houston Advanced Research Center, the Chemical Heritage Foundation and several major research universities. The articles address topics such as public definitions of nanotechnology, risk perception and communication, policy and regulation, and outreach and public engagement.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Control Actions with Thoughts

Speaking of living in the future, the San Jose Mercury News has this story about how "Gamers may soon control action with thoughts."

Freaky.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Warriors of the future...

...will 'taste' battlefield (!?)

In their quest to create the super warrior of the future, some military researchers aren't focusing on organs like muscles or hearts. They're looking at tongues.

By routing signals from helmet-mounted cameras, sonar and other equipment through the tongue to the brain, they hope to give elite soldiers superhuman senses similar to owls, snakes and fish. . .

Instead of holding and looking at compasses and bulky-hand-held sonar devices, [users] can process the information through their tongues, said Dr. Anil Raj, the project's lead scientist.

In testing, blind people found doorways, noticed people walking in front of them and caught balls. A version of the device, expected to be commercially marketed soon, has restored balance to those whose vestibular systems in the inner ear were destroyed by antibiotics. . .

Sonar is the next step. A lot depends on technological developments to make sonar smaller -- hand-held sonar is now about the size of a lunch box.

"If they could get it small enough, it could be mounted on a helmet, then they could pan around on their heads and they could feel the sonar on their tongues with good registration to what they are seeing visually," Raj said.

Get it "small enough," you say?

Perhaps nanotechnology could help with that, as in MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies program -- "where advanced nanotechnology research will dramatically improve the survival of the soldier of the future."

The potential of these combined technologies is almost limitless. From search and rescue, to undersea exploration, to outer space, to covert surveillance, and obviously to the battlefield -- but also to consumer-oriented applications, such as virtual reality or new paradigms for information processing -- we are living in the future!

[Hat tip to Future Brief]

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

What CRN Would Tell Them

As noted yesterday, Chris and I were asked an interesting question during a recent online interview:

If you had the collective attention of every policy maker and stakeholder, what would you tell them about advanced nanotechnologies?

We thought a lot about this, and tried to give a fairly simple and straighforward answer -- although that doesn't mean our advice would be easy to follow!

Here's what we said:

Both the beneficial potential and the grave dangers of molecular manufacturing are poorly understood and have been seriously underestimated. The changes to society will be abrupt, transformative, and probably disruptive. It is important that we learn as soon as possible how quickly key technological breakthroughs could occur, because that is what will trigger this sudden change.

Today the pace of technical advance is far ahead of studying and preparing for the societal and environmental impacts of the technology. Unless this balance is corrected, we will enter the future unable to effectively and responsibly manage the tremendous power being unleashed by nanotechnology. We may have only one chance to get it right.

Comments?

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Should we guide them gently?

In a comment on yesterday's blog entry, Nick Robilliard said:

Policy makers' role is to maintain the status quo and they WILL NOT BELIEVE predictions of massive rapid change. It is pointless to try explaining the potential to this audience, better to 'guide' them gently with language of "risk management" and "best outcomes" for the US, EU, or wherever, while working in the background.

His statement was in response to the question, If you had the collective attention of every policy maker, what would you tell them about advanced nanotechnologies?

Nick's point of view is interesting, and I'd like to get some other opinions about it:

1. Is he right? Is it true that most policy makers simply "will not believe predictions of massive rapid change"?

2. If #1 is true, is it a better idea to "guide them gently" while "working in the background"? (Working on what?)

3. If you agree with both #1 and #2, how is CRN doing? Are we being too bold with our predictions of massive rapid change? Do we need to focus more on language of "risk management" and "best outcomes" while working in the background? Or is the success we have had evidence that we should not change our tactics?

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Every Policy Maker and Stakeholder

During a recent interview with Nanotechnology Now, Chris and I were asked this question:

If you had the collective attention of every policy maker and stakeholder, what would you tell them about advanced nanotechnologies?

OK, it's your turn. How would YOU answer the question?



Tomorrow, I'll share with you what we said.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

The Great Irreverator

Not Necessarily Relevant Quote of the Week:

I cannot call to mind a single instance where I have ever been irreverent, except toward the things which were sacred to other people.

— Mark Twain

Tag: quotes