The future of nanotechnology

A report released today by the Economic and Social Research Council said that nanotechnology is expected to develop into a $1 trillion industry within 10 years. It may become a political battlefield like genetically modified food.
The report, put forward by three scholars at the University of Sheffield, said that the debate on nanotechnology issues has been polarized into Utopia and disaster.
They said: “The Utopia theory anticipates that this technology can clean the environment, keep humans out of disease, aging and death, and provide sufficient resources to eradicate poverty.
“Anti-Utopian theory holds that the prospects are dark and it is expected that nanotechnology will be a sign of the end of the world because the biosphere will be destroyed by uncontrollable, self-replicating robots.”
Another report commissioned by Greenpeace, a researcher at the Imperial College in London, said that open arguments are very important to avoid losing control of technology.
The report recommends: "Although the risk is not yet obvious, we must try our best to avoid even a slight risk."
Nanotechnology has been first applied to sunscreens and cosmetics (in sunscreen), and it will also be used in new computer configurations to increase speed and increase data storage.
In the near future, "smart" packaging will show the freshness of the food in the package. The next wave of new waves may be biomedical, including wonderful new methods of medicine and new medical transplants.
For more than a decade, the focus of speculation has been on nano-robot technology: In the future, such micro-devices can be placed in the human body to explore and remove toxins from the body, or they can be patrolled in blood vessels, and they can be discovered in time if symptoms of cardiovascular disease occur.
Both reports emphasized the importance of open debate and awareness, and both investigated questions about nanoproduct safety, how to monitor and control future development, and who could benefit from it.
Stephen Wood, one of the three scholars at Sheffield University, said: "We think there should be arguments, but the basic framework for arguing is not right now. It is too extreme."
A survey was recently conducted to see if this has added new security issues.
Some organizations have expressed their concern about the use of nanoparticles in commodities.
Scientists in Sheffield pointed out that if toxicity is inherent in a product, humans are already extinct.
However, scaling down the machine may have unpredictable consequences.
Wood said: "The computer can become an extension of the human body. The image can be formed directly in the retina. The nerve impulse can be directly input into the computer."
"There are also speculations that advanced technology can eventually enable us to upload our ideas and ultimately we can live forever without relying on our bodies."
Wood said: "The possibility of making machines in molecular size is not as unfeasible as people think. They will never reproduce themselves because humans will always control the situation. The boundaries between biological and artificial goods will not change.