Rosalyn Berne: We are not asking along the way, “where are we going and what are we doing?” It’s as if we’re caught up in a wave, and we’re just riding it. And I think when the wave settles down again and we stand up and look around, we will not be recognizable in terms of who we are now.
Rosalyn Berne of the University of Virginia spoke with EarthSky about nanotechnology and our future.
Rosalyn Berne: For those who have the resources – intellectual, financial – there will be a group of people who will choose, because we have the technology, to enhance their physical bodies, to enhance their senses and various properties. I don’t think that will be without a trade-off.
Berne was one of a panel of experts who explored nanotech’s medical applications in a new Fred Friendly seminars series called “Nanotechnology: the Power of Small.”
Rosalyn Berne: The rapid development of some of these technologies takes us back from that connection to the organic whole, which is the human experience in the animal kingdom that we’re a part of and the Earth – it disconnects us from that. And I don’t think we know what that means. We’ve already taken steps out of that connection, and we will take leaps that will redefine what it means to be human.
Rosalyn Berne: One of the scientists I spoke with in my research said in fact, he doesn’t worry about things because it takes an awfully long time for changes such as this to come. But what he is concerned about is anything that will take us into no longer communicating with one another directly. Body to body, eye to eye, species to species, because technology would have replaced some of those modes of communication. I also worry about that.
She said our human society needs to ask more questions about the direction of nanotechnology.
Rosalyn Berne: Now whether or not it’s a good thing to move in that direction, that’s for society to decide. But from where I stand now, and what I value in being human, I think we have a great deal to lose in the exchange.
For more, visit powerofsmall.org.
Thanks to the National Science Foundation – explore, discover, understand.
Our thanks to:
Rosalyn Berne
Dept of Science and Technology in Society
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
One of the largest problems that need to be overcome before intelligent/programmable nano devices can be used for medical applications is their extremely high failure rate in manufacturing and added failure rate in application.
A major issue is the failure mode. Hard failures will render the device completely inoperable whereas soft failures can cause the device to continue to function but make mistakes. In medical applications, you don’t want implanted nano devices making mistakes!
Additionally, the environment in which they are used must be very stringently controlled to reduce failures. Just normal background radiation found at sea-level has been calculated to cause progressive failures of the devices at a rate of 10E-4, which is an unacceptably high rate. Getting an MRI while the devices are implanted could fry a significant percentage of the devices. Simply talking on your cell phone could generate enough RF (radio frequency) energy to destroy a percentage of the implants in proximity of the cell phone’s antenna.
These are all problems that can be addressed theoretically but current design technology and redundancy concepts that may work are still decades away from proving them as viable.
For now, the real exciting news on the medical front is in non-intelligent nanotechnology. Nano carbon fibers are being developed that will attach only to specific cancer cell wall proteins. When radiated with RF energy, they will heat up and kill the cancer while leaving normal cells (which they can’t bind to) completely unharmed. Also nanotechnology drug delivery concepts are being developed that will deliver drugs to very specific cells and locations in the body. This will decrease the dosing levels significantly, greatly decrease the chance of contraindications, and provide highly targeted drug therapies never before possible. A number of non-intelligent nanotechnology concepts are in clinical trials now and may soon be at a pharmacist near you.
Within a decade, curing certain forms of cancer may be as simple as getting an injection then stepping into an RF chamber for 30 minutes – barely enough time to read a few articles in your favorite magazine – and you’re cured. Now that’s exciting!
LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS):