Converging Technologies

Nanotechnology-related ethical issues are likely to become much more complex in the coming years, as progress in nanoscience makes possible more and more linkages to other technologies. This is has been described as convergence at the nanoscale:

The phrase "convergent technologies" refers to the synergistic combination of four major "NBIC" (nano-bio-info-cogno) provinces of science and technology, each of which is currently progressing at a rapid rate: (a) nanoscience and nanotechnology; (b) biotechnology and biomedicine, including genetic engineering; (c) information technology, including advanced computing and communications; (d) cognitive science, including cognitive neuroscience. (Bainbridge 2002: ix; cf. Roco and Montemagno 2004)

Ultimately, this convergence will not consist merely of a collection of separate interdisciplinary fields that splice together different sciences and technologies in a piecemeal fashion. Rather, it will consist of a completely integrated set of theories and tools that provides comprehensive understanding and control of nature.

On one level, convergence is seen as the only way of continuing the rate of technological progress that humanity saw throughout the twentieth century. Demographers have noticed diminishing returns from medical science, as the rate of increase in the extension of the human life span markedly declined, but there is hope that nano-bio convergence can finally cure cancer and other diseases that have resisted a century's efforts and can begin to undo the degenerative effects of natural aging. It is believed that nano-info convergence can continue Moore's Lawthe doubling of computer power at constant cost every 18 monthsfor another two decades, and this would mean computers having 8,000 times the power of today's machines.

But on another level, there is also realistic hope that entirely new things may be accomplished, even within the next very few years. Stimulated by defense needs, nano-bio-info convergence could result in sensors that can instantly identify even small quantities of any chemical substance or biological pathogen. While the patient is still in the doctor's office, this could mean definitive identification of an infectionviral or bacterialallowing the doctor to begin proper treatment immediately.

For the first time, we have the real potential to create a host of cognitive technologies based on cognitive science supported by bio-nano-info innovations. These revolutionary changes raise profound ethical issues concerning privacy, equity, and possibly even the transformation of human nature.