The Nanodialogues
Four experiments in upstream public engagement
Nanotechnology - the science of small things - promises to be one of the defining technologies of the 21st Century. But what will it mean for society and the environment? And how can public engagement in deciding the direction of research be moved 'upstream'?
Not so magic nano
at 9:53am on Friday, 28th April 2006
The promise and reality of nanotechnology are dancing again. More and more nano products drop out of the future to challenge the governance of technology. I've just written a piece on "Magic Nano" for open democracy . Though it may or may not contain a nano-something, and this nano-something may or may not have been the cause, a bunch of people were taken to hospital hours after using Magic Nano, days after it went on sale. The immediate questions this sort of thing asks of policy are a drop in the ocean compared to the more disruptive futures some people have imagined for nanotechnology. Our long-running project for the ESRC has just ended, with a final report that we've called "Governing at the nanoscale".
In the short term, perhaps we should keep an eye on the new turtle wax. This bank holiday weekend, a whole lot of people will be polishing their pride and joy for the first time with "Extreme Nano-Tech Polishing Wax". Watch this shiny space.
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