Presenting Futures

This book presents the ways nanotechnology actors anticipate and seek to shape the future. It brings together social scientists, humanists, government officials, activists, designers, and professionals into a multifaceted and at times conflicting dialogue.

Welcome to the ?rst volume of the Yearbook of Nanotechnology in Society! Nanotechnology, hailed as the next industrial revolution (NSTC 2000) and c- tiqued for being little more than hype (Berube 2006), is the site of a great deal of social and intellectual contest. With some ten billion dollars being spent worldwide on nanotechnology research and development annually and a market forecast of trillions of dollars in sales in the medium-term future (Lux Research 2006), nations and ?rms are pursuing nano-related goals with high levels of both effort and - pectations. Yet according to the Woodrow Wilson International Center's web-based Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory, most of the more than 500 na- products on the market as of this writing are basic consumer itemscosmetics, clothing, athletic equipment and the likewith modest, incremental improvements on their non-nano counterparts. Nanotechnology is also the site of an increasing amount of scholarship dedicated to understanding the interactions between society and an emerging knowled- based technological endeavor. Searching the Web of Science indices in social s- ence and humanities for nanotech and nanoparticle, for example, yields 231 hits 1 since 1990, but 75 percent of these occur in 2004 through 2007. This scholarship attempts to fathom the implications of nanotechnologies for society, as well as the implications for nanotechnologies of society. Some of it is also engaged in dialogue with both the public and with nanotechnology researchers about the hope and the hype described above.

Offers a lively and multifaceted view of social, ethical, and policy issues raised by nanotechnology Includes multi-sectoral participation from academic, public, and private sectors Captures contemporary discussions of the future of nanotechnology current in academic scholarship, government documents, corporate reports, and NGO press releases

Texte du rabat

The ideas and imagery about the future that characterize nanotechnology today are shaped by multiple values and agendas which influence public investments,business strategies, infrastructure design, and public debate. Presenting Futures highlights a variety of ways that nanotechnology actors think about and seek to shape the future. It brings together social scientists, humanists, government officials, activist groups, designers, and public relations professionals into a multifaceted and at times conflicting dialogue through press releases, government reports, and advertisements taken from the front lines of the political discourse over nanotechnology, as well as original writings that situate nanotechnological futures within broader contexts. The chapters in this volume document various approaches to the future and how contemporary cultural conceptions about science, technology, and society are created and ultimately influence our own cognitive frames, social contests, and material practices.

More than a catalogue of visions, the Yearbook is designed to give social scientists, natural scientists, and the general public an opportunity to explore, reflect on, and ultimately critique these futures. In asking not so much what the future of nanotechnology may be, but rather how different social groups and organizations imagine and anticipate it, the Yearbook offers a series of starting points for exploring the role of the future in the present.

Contenu
Nanotechnology: The Future Is Coming Sooner than You Think.- The Workers' Push to Democratize Nanotechnology.- Thinking Longer Term about Technology.- Constructive Technology Assessment and Socio-Technical Scenarios.- Information and Imagination: How Lux Research Forecasts.- Designing for the Future: Nanoscale Research Facilities.- What Drives Public Acceptance of Nanotechnology?.- Nanologue.- Anticipating the Futures of Nanotechnology: Visionary Images as Means of Communication.- Winners of Nano-Hazard Symbol Contest Announced atWorld Social Forum, Nairobi, Kenya.- Your Children, Their Children.- Developing Plausible Nano-Enabled Products.- Nanotechnology for Chemical and Biological Defense 2030 Workshop and Study.- Nanotechnologies for Tomorrow's Society: A Case for Reflective Action Research in Flanders, Belgium.- Communications in the Age of Nanotechnology.- How Can Business Respond to the Technical, Social, and Commercial Uncertainties of Nanotechnology?.- Manufactured Nanoparticle Health and Safety Disclosure [Draft Report].- A Framework for Responsible Nanotechnology.- Contemplating the Implications of a Nanotechnology Revolution.- Nanotechnology: Challenges and the Way Forward.- Technology Assessment of Nanotechnology: Problems and Methods in Assessing Emerging Technologies.- Compressed Foresight and Narrative Bias: Pitfalls in Assessing High Technology Futures.- Science Fiction, Nano-Ethics, and the Moral Imagination.