First Choices – Talking about ”Nanotechnology”

The task of describing and defining nanotechnology is no innocent undertaking. Depending on how we define it, the outcome may be anything from numbed amazement or helpless speculation to critical awareness or policy-shaping capability. Our definition will prompt us either to expect every aspect of our lives to be revolutionised or else to believe that what we are dealing with is nothing much more than a fashACHTUNGTRENNUNGionable, though far from inconsequential trend. Finally, our definition tells us whether nanotechnology is a technology of the future with as yet unforeseeable impacts or whether it is a set of visions and objectives relating to the present. The normal way of defining the terms namely first to establish the lowest commondenominator of nanotechnology research, is by no means innocent either: this smallest common factor is still far too large for any meaningful thinking or acting. Minimal definitions in terms of size or novel properties serve merely to establish the domain of nanoscientific research. Nanotechnology then appears as the just about infinite potential of possible applications arising from work on these reACHTUNGTRENNUNGsearch objects (The Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering, 2004). For example a typical assertion is that nanotechnology makes use of properties that only occur on themolecular scale of 1 to 100 nanometres (10 to 10metres) and are distinct from macroscopic properties. Gold is often used as an example of this: its colour, its chemical inertness and therefore its impact on health are all well known. However, if its chemical composition is retained and the gold is reduced merely to the size of a nanoparticle, these properties change. This is where nanotechnology comes in. It encompasses all that makes use of these sorts of changes. And what might that be? At this point, the definition no longer offers any guidance but leaves us with boundless possibilities. If carbon nanotubes possess interesting optical properties, wouldn’t it be conceivable to construct a completely different kind of computer, one that no longer works on the basis of binary electronics but rather photonically, using the colour spectrum? If nano-structured fibres are especially light and strong, couldn’t wemake a rope out of them and attach it to an elevator going up into space? If the self-organisation processes of nature are among the new properties, can’t we imagine nanosystems, or even small robots, that produce and reproduce themselves? And so on.