engadget.com — Overall, Americans were far less accepting of pint-size technology than other countries -- 72 percent of French respondents thought nanotech was morally okay, as did 54 percent of the UK residents polled and 62 percent of the Germans.
Feb 20, 2008 View in Crawl 4
fsucheefFeb 20, 2008
How is making something really small immoral??
dualityFeb 21, 2008
I hate posting replies to my own comments, but let me add one final thought.As incorrect as this study is, it is still probably a good thing. The proper question is not "Is nanotech morally acceptable?"; it is "Are we, as a civilized society, moral enough to use nanotech responsibly?" Unfortunately, my own personal answer to this question is "Not enough of us." I personally believe that there are many people who can use any technology morally and responsibly, but I am afraid that there are just too many people in the world would use nanotech immorally. In this vein, I think the surveyed Americans probably have it right.Nanotech isn't morally unacceptable; we are.
Closed AccountFeb 21, 2008
I guess I'm not part of that 2/3. Check the link in my profile. ;-) Hint, I'm a transhumanist. I guess that means 2/3 of the US population fear me.
bluepassFeb 21, 2008
2/3 of America can suck my right nut.
fyngyrzFeb 21, 2008
Breaking news: 2/3rds of Americans think "nano" is a verb indicating sex with Mork from Ork.
jjusticeFeb 21, 2008
I'm against ebryonic stem cell research, but even *I* don't see any inherent moral problem with nanotech. Dangerous/scary? Yes. Inherently immoral? No.
tehboredFeb 21, 2008
You misunderstand. The nanobots replicate by consuming organic matter. The reason you'd make self-replicating nanobots precisely so that you don't have to manufacture them in a factory. The proper thing to do would be to make it so that they can only replicate in certain temperatures or in the presence of certain chemicals that do not exist in nature. Also, a few square kilometers isn't that big a loss. Well, it is for anything living in the area, but nothing much in terms of being a threat to humanity.
justice101Feb 22, 2008
Questions that should have also been asked: Do you know what Nanotech is, and not from a bad sitcom. Are you sure you really really know what it is; hint, it's not a flesh eating virus/cyborg hybrid. Do you care?
mooferFeb 23, 2008
wha?
funkywoodFeb 25, 2008
"Is it morally unacceptable to destroy something that is made of circuits?"Try asking Johnny 5.
tim04Mar 3, 2008
when was the last time you guys actually implemented anything before Europe or Asia? the Internet maybe? try again