Ethical Issues Raised by Emerging Technologies
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
Emerging technologies like nanotechnology and biotechnology raises health and ethical issues. Government regulations cannot hope to keep pace as the new technologies raise issues that nobody has a clear idea about. This situation creates a dilemma as countries want technological progress but are apprehensive about the unknown safety and ethical issues.
Nanotechnology is a revolutionary technology that has applications in many areas, including healthcare, consumer products, industrial products and energy. The technology involves working at nanoscale; a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; and nanotechnology deals with materials of 100 nanometers or less. At nanoscale, normally harmless materials can become toxic, and nanomaterials can permeate the skin barrier and enter internal organs with unknown consequences.
An ethical issue arises when multinational corporations, unable to work in their home countries owing to rigorous regulations, shift operations to developing countries where regulations are non-existent or lax. In addition to MNCs, even local companies might engage in dangerous research and manufacturing activities in such an environment.
Modern biology raises issues that cause even greater concerns. For example, issues such as patenting life, DNA banks and genetically engineered animals and crops are issues that have raised serious controversies. Considerable discussions are taking place about these issues all over the world.
An article on Green Nanotechnology and a booklet on Ethics and Biotechnology go into these issues.
Tags: emerging technologies, ethical issues, health issues, safety issues
Posted in biotechnology, business, corporate responsibility, emerging technologies, health risks, impact on humanity, nanoethics, nanotechnology, social risks | No Comments »
Are Robots or People a greater Threat to Humanity?
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
The question above is just one of the questions that might be asked at the Singularity University at the NASA Ames site in Mountain View. The institution was created by futurists and backed by the co-founders of Google. Its focus is on exploring the implications of the accelerating pace of innovation across a number of scientific fields.
A recent lecture at the university was about the possibility that developments in artificial intelligence might create machines that achieve self-awareness, and become able to enslave humanity. While this possibility might appear far-fetched to most of us, and was considered unlikely by the lecturer himself, there are more likely possibilities in different fields that can have a fundamental impact on humanity.
A recent program at the university focused on briefing participants from all over the world about robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, computer networking, medicine and environmental technologies where dramatic breakthroughs are occurring. Many social and ethical questions are raised by developments in at least some of these fields.
Modern biotechnology with its ability to work at genetic levels might, for example, be able to create two classes of humans, one class that is able to afford the costs of gene modifications to make them “supermen” and another class who cannot afford the costs, and might be enslaved or dominated by the former.
Read the story at MercuryNews.
Tags: emerging technologies, future developments, technology impact
Posted in emerging technologies, impact on humanity, robotics | No Comments »
Nanotechnology against Terrorism
Friday, September 24th, 2010
Terrorists often come in the guise of ordinary persons and strike at unexpected places. The traditional terrorism prevention strategy is to subject people to rigorous security checks at sensitive places, and to generally limit their democratic rights. Security and democratic freedom often become incompatible under such an environment.
Can this situation be changed? According to the authors of “Nanotechnology and Homeland Security”, it can. For example, nanotechnology-based sensors can detect a range of threats from food contamination to weapons of mass destruction. Nanomaterials can protect homes, offices and people on the scene. And nanotechnology-based remediation technologies can heal the effects of environmental damage.
The book discusses the above and other topics to propose that the new technology can help in “fighting terrorism without sacrificing our open, free, and democratic society.” As the cited possibilities hint, nanotech can be used to prevent terrorist actions, and also to mitigate the impact of incidents that do occur.
Nanotechnology affects practically every field of life and promises solutions that are completely different from what we are accustomed to, from perennial sources of energy to new cancer treatment. Fighting terrorism is another of the new possibilities of this technology, according to the authors.
Tags: democratic freedoms, fighting terrorism, nanotechnology
Posted in emerging technologies, forensics, nanotechnology | No Comments »
Re-Awakening Innovation in the United States of America
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
USA had prospered through innovation and it has now reached a level of prosperity and influence that every nation in the world wants to have a special relationship with it. However, the US has also suffered from too much “financial innovation” that led to an economic near-death experience.
Normally, people and organizations might not consider the present depressed economic scenario the ideal one for ambitious investments, particularly long-term investments such as in science and technology. On the other hand, many companies and organizations think that the present is the best time for such investments. The company Intel and the university Caltech belong to this group.
In a news release, Intel speaks of encouraging new approaches to the vital issues in our society where science and technology can make a contribution. They also note that there is a similar focus in many research institutions and innovative companies across the US, and that together with parallel developments in public policy, there is reason for excitement and hope for the country.
Intel, for example, renewed its commitment to investing in the future at the intersection of technology and education. The company invests in longer-term and exploratory research with U.S. universities seeking breakthroughs not only in semiconductor technology but also in new applications and uses for information technology. In this process, they encourage university students to become the engineers and scientists that create tomorrow’s technology.
At Calech, educational and research initiatives are inspiring some of the world’s best minds to focus on game-changing technologies in critical areas such as energy and health.
At government level, the Obama Administration is rethinking federal innovation policy. The President’s “Strategy for American Innovation” released in the fall of 2009 recognizes that “a short-term view of the economy masks under-investments in essential drivers of sustainable, broadly shared growth”.
Read a news release at Huffington Post.
Tags: caltech, future technology, innovation in usa, intel, long-term research, obama administration
Posted in business, corporate responsibility, emerging technologies, innovation, patenting, technology commercialization | 1 Comment »
Demands from Indigenous-Originally-Rural Peoples
Monday, April 19th, 2010
All of us are descendants of people who were originally dwellers of forests and rural communities. Technology developments might have pushed all memories of those ancient habitats beyond even occasional thoughts. Yet, most of us might feel some semblance of sympathy for the people who have no access to the technologies and its benefts.
It is in such a context that the demand of the indigenous people of Bolivia helps us to view things in a new perspective. At a conference in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia on March 29th and 30th 2010, the Indigenous-Originally-Rural Peoples and Social Organizations of Bolivia agreed up certain actions.
They demand that developed nations fulfill and revise the commitments they had assumed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, regarding the development and transfer of technology.
It was clarified that the technologies must be clean, environmentally sound, accessible for all developing countries. The demand went on to add that the transfer process must not be subject to profit, and rejected the proposal of developed countries of creating a “technology pool” where instead of transferring technology, it is put to sale at inaccessible costs.
A second demand was for the creation of the Climate Justice Tribunal and the imposition of sanctions by this Tribunal on States that do not fulfil their commitments of development and transfer of technology.
Read about the conference details and additional demands at World People’s Conference of Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.
Tags: clean technology, fruits of development, indigenous people, technology transfer
Posted in environment, technology transfer | 1 Comment »
Cell Phones of Tomorrow
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Miniature laser projectors have become possible with nanotechnology developments. These can lead to phones with mini projectors to project the phone screen on a wall. LG’s Expo projector is an example of a mini projector attached to a phone. Probably, you can load a selected presentation from your corporate intranet and present it to your prospects with nothing more than a phone.
Charging a phone is a hassle especially if you travel internationally with differing standards for electrical plugs. A phone that can be charged with sunlight, using solar panels on the phone, will be a boon (provided you don’t travel to one of the poles during their long nights).
Watch phones are not the normal cell phones with a watch on the screen, but normal-looking watches that are also phones. Some of them even have GPS guiding you to your destination.
And a voice-to-text phone can save you typing your SMSes using the tiny keypads of phones. Instead, just speak your message to the phone and send the SMS. Your speech would have been converted into text which the SMS then sends.
Read about these and other phones at SiliconValleyNano.com.
Tags: cell phones, projector phones, solar phones, voice-to-text sms, watch phones
Posted in emerging technologies, information technology, smartphone applications, wireless communication | No Comments »
Nanotechnology Industry Development: Several Obstacles
Monday, March 29th, 2010
Nanotechnology involves working at the levels of atoms and molecules. At nanoscale, properties of materials can change from what they are in normal state. Neutral materials can exhibit toxicity at nano scale, for example.
Nanomaterials and the technology can also affect environment, and raise social and ethical issues. Regulatory oversignt is needed to ensure that the technology is handled responsibly. The problem is that regulators typically do not know what to regulate in this new field.
Regulations can often hinder the development of the technology and industry. In a recent example, a “diabetes phone” that used biotechnology developments to help patients to check their blood-sugar levels, and then use information technology developments to seek remote treatment from doctors, could not be successfully marketed in Korea as local medical regulations did not allow remote treatment.
Business funding practices might also not be helpful for development of industry using such innovative and unproven technologies. A study in India found that funding stopped at academic research stage. Bureaucratic procedures involved in releasing government funding discourages entrepreneurs in such new technologies.
Developing countries also face the problem of inadequate venture capital availability to fund enterprises in new technologies. Typically, entrepreneurs have to depend on private funding.
Knowledge transfer from academia to manufacturing industry is also not well-developed in these new technologies.
Read about a study conducted in India on nanotech industry development problems in a dnaindia report.
Tags: industry development, new technology industries, regulatory and infrastructural framework
Posted in business, emerging technologies, environment, nanotech business, nanotechnology, technology commercialization | No Comments »
Industrial Convergence Faces Legal and other Obstacles
Sunday, March 28th, 2010
Recently the Ministry of Knowledge Economy in Korea announced that it is crafting legislation to overcome the obstacles in the way of developing industrial convergence. By industrial convergence is meant the coming together of different technologies, nanotechnology, information technology, biotechnology and cognitive science, to develop and market products of value.
The Ministry cited as example the problems faced by a recent product, the “diabetes phone” that allowed users to check their blood-sugal levels and get remote treatment from doctors. The product combined the latest in biotechnology and information technology. However, inadequate sales and existing regulations on medical treatment forced the product off the market.
Government categorized the device as medical equipment and did not allow remote treatment owing to safety concerns.
Convergence of technologies are bringing many innovative solutions into the market, which are being exploited by companies in the advanced economies such as those of U.S., Europe and Japan. However, outdated legal and institutional factors prevent their development in many other countries.
Korea wants to get out of this situation and has formed a committee to craft new legislation that will tap the synergies possible through convergence of industries. If each industry goes on its own traditional path, the benefits of such synergy will be lost to the society.
Korea wants to adopt policies that will allow deregulation, R&D support for local companies and commercialization of convergence technologies.
Read the news at JoongAngDaily.
Tags: convergence of technologies, emerging technologies
Posted in business, emerging technologies, industrial convergence, technology commercialization | No Comments »
Transhumanism or Human Enhancement through Technology
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
Transhumanism is an international movement that supports the use of technology for enhancing human physical and mental capabilities. Members of the movement believe that disability, disease, suffering, aging and involuntary death are neither inevitable nor desirable, and look to technologies like biotechnology to eliminate these.
Transcendentalist ideas of going beyond human limitations have a long history. The quest for immortality, Elixir of Life, Fountain of Youth and such ideas represent such transendentalist yearnings. Even Charles Darwin’s theories were used to suggest that we humans are only at the beginning of evolution and much more can be expected.
By 19th century, the idea of using technology to enhance human capabilities began to receive attention and the trend gained momentum in the 20th. Bionic implants have already become a reality helping the diseased heart to beat and the deaf to hear. Research into cognitive enhancement is beginning to show results.
Another related development is space colonization that allow people to migrate to other hospitable worlds. It can perhaps help improve things back on earth, which is getting increasingly overcrowded in certain areas while the reverse is happening in other areas.
Developments in nanotechnology gave a new dimension to transhumanist ideas. Nanobiotechnology is a field where biotechnology works with nanoscale elements. Nanorobots could be traversing our blood vessels curing diseases and the new properties of materials at nanoscale might lead to better healing of wounds, for example.
The movement is also concerned with the possible dangers of using technology in this manner. There are opponents to this movement such as Francis Fukuyama who considered it the “world’s most dangerous idea”.
Universal access to tranhumanist technologies across classes and borders is a key ethical issue. Unless such access is made possible, the movement can lead to an elite few benefiting from the technologies to the exclusion of the vast majority. It could lead to a nightmare world where the majority become slaves of the elite “superhumans,” a popular theme in horror films.
See the four possible scenarios for transhumanist developments at the Institute for Emerging Ethics and Technologies.
Tags: emerging technologies, transcending human condition, transhumanism
Posted in bionics, biotechnology, diseases, emerging technologies, transhumanism | No Comments »
Largest Photovoltaic Plant in the World
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
Sunovia Technologies of Florida, USA, is set to construct the world’s largest concentrated photovoltaic power generation plant in Dominican Republic of the Caribbean Islands. The island is blessed with an environment of extreme sunlight, and now this light is going to be turned into energy for the people and businesses of the island.
The $200 million facility will be 2.6 sq.km. in size and will use high-efficiency solar cells. The company claims that as against the normal solar cell efficiency of 10 to 20 percent, the company’s solar cells will have 40 percent efficiency. Sunovia develops the solar cells in partnership with Illinois-based EPR technologies.
Sunovia says that it will be a showcase facility and that already it has attracted the attention of several international companies. The concentrated facility will also be able to generate power at low cost according to the report.
Read this story and others at: World Reports
Tags: photovoltaic cells, power generation, solar cell efficiency, solar power, sunlight
Posted in emerging technologies, environment, renewable energy | No Comments »
