What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?
From Science to Ethics
Published on 3. November 2009
304 pages
978-1-4443-1800-5 (ISBN)
Description
Ongoing research in nanotechnology promises both innovations andrisks, potentially and profoundly changing the world. This bookhelps to promote a balanced understanding of this importantemerging technology, offering an informed and impartial look at thetechnology, its science, and its social impact and ethics.
* Nanotechnology is crucial for the next generation ofindustries, financial markets, research labs, and our everydaylives; this book provides an informed and balanced look atnanotechnology and its social impact
* Offers a comprehensive background discussion on nanotechnologyitself, including its history, its science, and its tools, creatinga clear understanding of the technology needed to evaluate ethicsand social issues
* Authored by a nanoscientist and philosophers, offers anaccurate and accessible look at the science while providing anideal text for ethics and philosophy courses
* Explores the most immediate and urgent areas of social impactof nanotechnology
Reviews / Votes
"Undoubtedly, reading this book will stimulate a great deal of discussion, which is, perhaps, its chief merit. From this viewpoint the great breadth of coverage is a definite advantage, because it ensures that there is a great variety of food for thought in the content." (Nanotechnology Perceptions, 1 November 2010) "This book was very carefully constructed. Painstaking internal cross-reference refer the reader to fuller discussions of topics in other chapters. Nearly every chapter, at the start and conclusion, includes a few sentences on scope." (Nanotechnology Law & Business, summer 2010)"The authors of What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter? answer their question with a broad and balanced examination of the nature of nanotechnology, how it is unfolding, and how these developments will affect issues of global concern: the impact of emerging technologies on the environment, medicine, military affairs, and civil society, and how we can act to achieve better outcomes." --Eric Drexler, author of Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation "What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter? provides a concise but clear introduction to the subject of nanotechnology as well as an excellent overview of nanotechnology's ethical and social implications. I highly recommend it." --James Moor, Dartmouth CollegeMore details
Other editions
Additional editions
Fritz Allhoff | Patrick Lin | Daniel Moore
What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?
From Science to Ethics
Book
01/2010
Wiley
€57.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Fritz Allhoff | Patrick Lin | Daniel Moore
What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?
From Science to Ethics
Book
01/2010
Wiley-Blackwell
€103.06
Article exhausted; check different version
Fritz Allhoff | Patrick Lin | Daniel Moore
What is Nanotechnology and Why Does it Matter? - From Science to Ethics
Software
12/2009
Wiley-Blackwell
€95.73
No shipping information available
Fritz Allhoff | Patrick Lin | James Moor
Nanoethics
The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology
Book
08/2007
1st Edition
Wiley
€66.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Fritz Allhoff | Patrick Lin | James Moor
Nanoethics
The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology
Book
08/2007
1st Edition
Wiley
€87.90
Article exhausted; check different version
Persons
Fritz Allhoff is Assistant Professor in the Department ofPhilosophy at Western Michigan University, where he also holds anaffiliation with the Mallinson Institute for Science Education. Hehas held fellowships at the Center for Philosophy of Science at theUniversity of Pittsburgh and the Centre for Applied Philosophy andPublic Ethics at the Australian National University. He has editedmore than 20 books, including two on the social and ethicalimplications of nanotechnology.
Patrick Lin is the director of Ethics + Emerging SciencesGroup at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo,and holds academic appointments at Dartmouth College, US NavalAcademy and Western Michigan University. He is also lead author ofa recent major report funded by the Department of Navy entitledAutonomous Military Robotics: Risk, Ethics, and Design(2008), as well as other publications in technology ethics,including edited anthologies on nanoethics.
Daniel Moore is a research scientist on nanoscalesemiconductor solutions for IBM. He served on the Georgia Instituteof Technology's honor committee and has received numerousfellowships, including the Molecular Design Institute Fellowship,the GT Nanoscience and Technology Fellowship, the School ofMaterials Science and Engineering Advanced Publication Award, theNSF STEP Fellowship, and a Sam Nunn Security Fellowship. Hisprofessional experience includes nanoscale research in otherleading industry laboratories.
Content
Preface viii
Unit I What Is Nanotechnology? 1
1 The Basics of Nanotechnology 3
1.1 Definitions and Scales 3
1.2 The Origins of Nanotechnology 5
1.3 The Current State of Nanotechnology 8
1.4 The Future of Nanotechnology 12
1.5 Nanotechnology in Nature and Applications 16
2 Tools of the Trade 20
2.1 Seeing the Nanoscale 21
2.2 Basic Governing Theories 30
3 Nanomaterials 36
3.1 Formation of Materials 36
3.2 Carbon Nanomaterials 37
3.3 Inorganic Nanomaterials 44
4 Applied Nanotechnology 56
4.1 Using Nanomaterials 56
4.2 Nanotechnology Computing and Robotics 62
4.3 Predicting the Future of Technology 67
Unit II Risk, Regulation, and Fairness 71
5 Risk and Precaution 73
5.1 Risk 73
5.2 Cost-Benefit Analysis 79
5.3 Precautionary Principles 82
5.4 Evaluating the Precautionary Principle 89
6 Regulating Nanotechnology 96
6.1 The Stricter-Law Argument 97
6.2 Learning from History 100
6.3 Objections to the Stricter-Law Argument 102
6.4 An Interim Solution? 120
6.5 Putting the Pieces Together 124
7 Equity and Access 126
7.1 Distributive Justice 127
7.2 Nanotechnology and the Developing World 132
7.3 Water Purification 135
7.4 Solar Energy 140
7.5 Medicine 143
7.6 Nanotechnology, the Developing World, and DistributiveJustice 145
Unit III Ethical and Social Implications 151
8 Environment 153
8.1 Society, Technology, and the Environment 154
8.2 Environmental Risks of Nanotechnology 159
8.3 Nanotechnology Solutions to Environmental Problems 161
8.4 Overall Assessments: Risk and Precaution 168
9 Military 170
9.1 The Military and Technology 170
9.2 A Nano-Enabled Military 173
9.3 A Nano-Enabled Defense System 177
9.4 Ethical Concerns 179
10 Privacy 185
10.1 Historical and Legal Background 186
10.2 Philosophical Foundations 192
10.3 Radio Frequency Identity Chips 198
10.4 Item-Level Tagging 201
10.5 Human Implants 204
10.6 RFID-Chipped Identification 207
10.7 Is RFID a Threat to Privacy? 210
11 Medicine 215
11.1 The Rise of Nanomedicine 216
11.2 Diagnostics and Medical Records 219
11.3 Treatment 223
11.4 Moving Forward 227
12 Human Enhancement 230
12.1 What is Human Enhancement? 231
12.2 Defining Human Enhancement 234
12.3 The Therapy-Enhancement Distinction 237
12.4 Human Enhancement Scenarios 240
12.5 Untangling the Issues in Human Enhancement 243
12.6 Restricting Human Enhancement Technologies? 252
13 Conclusion 254
13.1 Chapter Summaries 255
13.2 Final Thoughts and Future Investigations 258
References 261
Index 282
