Nano Salvation

The onset of nanotechnology will be unbelievably swift and already threatens to take many of us by surprise. Limited assembler systems could rearrange the molecular structure of any material, according to the preprogrammed instructions of a technician. With the introduction of these limited nanomachines there will be worldwide economic disruption when items that once were costly to produce become as cheap, literally, as dirt. This in turn will trigger massive job loss as nanomachines become more pervasive within the job market. Molecular technology could rearrange incorrect patterns of molecules and heal cells, capable of bringing excellent health and indefinite life to all. Nanomachinery will be self replicating, therefore extremely inexpensive to provide to all interested parties.

With this extended life span, several issues become important. The public will feel an undeniable need for new challenges and ways in which to contribute to humanity. This paper will outline three major and indispensable humanistic programs that must be embarked upon with the coming of nanotechnology, along with an agency able to provide the necessary communication networks and support for technical issues.

The Big Choice

Multidisciplinary teams of linguists, anthropologists, psychologists and philosophers will work in a tandem with teams of informed experts in nanotechnology on devising the Big Choice. They will assemble a multimedia, mostly visual and symbolic presentation that will explain the rudimentary scientific concepts behind molecular engineering. Also, they will illustrate various applications of nanotechnology (with an emphasis on life extension), and provide a brief summation of the possible pros and cons of making this decision. Finally, the Big Choice: aware of the possible benefits and risks, do you want to enter a symbiotic relationship with nanomachinery, to be healthy and live a far prolonged life? Some possible examples of suggested pros and cons:

Pros

• Less/no manual labour, shorter/no working hours.
• Nearly unlimited mobility and time to move freely.
• Continuing education, arts, social service, sports, community life.
• People can move beyond materialism when their material needs are met.

Cons.

• Risk of uniformity is a mass society.
• With mass production - loss of diversity in items produced.
• Loss of an individuality.
• Could lend to people a narrow criterion of efficiency?

Small clinics equipped with a small replicator assembly lab could easily be staffed by volunteers from countries with many misplaced workers. The clinics would virtually build themselves with help from replicators, spreading in the fashion of vaccination clinics in the third world. Some people will decline the Big Choice, as is their wont, preferring the more traditional survival strategies for their precious genes. Their bloodlines will continue, as will the "long lifers."

The Reclamation

We will next embark upon a massive scale reclamation of humankind's most precious resources: our environment and endangered or extinct species. We must make these concerns our next priority, available to the future of the human race.

The Internet or World Wide Web will serve as a worldwide communications network, it will link all the various teams together, carry directives and policies, publishing findings and ensuring the public is well informed and participating.

Environmental task teams staffed by volunteers will be deployed worldwide with portable nanotechnology labs. They could travel to each trouble spot, analyse the problem, report to the specialists, and then administer a "cure". They will be charged with cleaning, refertilizing and refoliating our ailing planet.

Extensive and inexpensive space exploration and colonization programs will also be instituted. We would provide virtually free information and space exploration materials in return for a trading agreement or similar treaty. By encouraging colonization, two problems would be dealt with; overpopulation of the planet, and the renewal of previously finite raw materials.

G.Hu.D.I.

The coordination of these monumental tasks must be undertaken by a decentralized organization with large electronic storage facilities. Millions of people and projects will rely on this institution as their link to humanity. G.Hu.D.I. is the Global Human Directional Institute, an apolitical entity whose mandate would be to direct the efforts of all humans interested in the various stages of rebuilding and reclamation that will need to be done.

The core of G.Hu.D.I. would be a group consisting of: political leaders, public interest groups (environmental, historical, cultural, etc.), a scientific advisory board, and an immense computer network containing database file of all current and future projects. It would provide creative and inspiring direction in the years of adaption that will follow the onset of nanotechnology. It would keep track of all ongoing endeavours, and aid individuals in joining projects already existing, or in helping them create their own. Lastly, the institute will provide specialized support for technical problems and ideas, providing feasibility studies and developing policies in directing further beneficial research.

Therefore, to conclude, whether one likes it or not, nanotechnology is a perfectly viable scientific application with which we may all soon have to deal. Although it may usher in an age of unparalleled health, prosperity and humanly good, it is not without drawbacks and risks. This is a technology with almost unlimited power, to be wielded only by an educated and informed hand. Being regulated will be necessary at first and steered toward our best interests. Molecular engineering may bring us the power of gods, yet the well being and prosperity of humankind rely on our benevolence and sagacity.

Selected Bibliography

• Drexler, Eric K., Engines of Creation (Doubleday, 1986)
• Barbour, Ian G., Ethics in an Age of Technology, The Gifford Lectures 1989-1991, Vol.2, (Harper, 1993)