Do you ever get the feeling that all the interest groups that have positioned themselves in opposition to nanotechnology are doing so more out of perceived threat of authoritarian governments, or worse, big business, than any real concerns about the specifics of nanotechnology?
It would probably be a worthy study, but in the meantime, let me offer you the latest in a paranoid dystopian future where “advances in nanotechnology will allow swarms of nanobots (or “nanoids”)” to search our private property.
There’s not much here in terms of specifics of nanotechnology, but there is plenty of rant on the recent warrantless surveillance conducted under the Bush administration.
Spurred by the potential for the future that is predicted by 2040, the Foresight Institute urges the drafting of guidelines for responsible use of these nanobots, I suppose just regarding privacy issues.
Is self-parody in their lexicon?
If you don’t think this is funny enough, take a read of the comments section where by coincidence just such a study is being proposed for the National Science Foundation.
I am not sure which I should be more perturbed by as a taxpayer that the government in cahoots with the telecoms is eavesdropping on my international phone calls or that the government would fund research into nanotechnology and privacy issues.
