Nanotechnology has a great potential to enhance our society. However, similar to many other technologies, its introduction and implementation raises some ethical issues for the scientists who are developing this technology and for the general public who may benefit from or be exposed to it. Most of the social, economic and ethical issues are exactly the same as those that affect many other high profile technologies. Although the technology is new, the issues it raises have been faced before by researchers and society. The pie chart attached taken from http://doingethics.com/reasoning.health.htm represents philosophical arguments and shows that arguments based on consequences rely on utilitarian reasoning.
Utilitarianism
Since the human genome …show more content…
These, and many other issues, are not new and were never raised by nanotechnology alone. These common problems were raised in previous technological scientific situation that had nothing to do with nanotechnology.
Arguably, the most likely area for which to look for new kinds of ethical issues presented by nanotechnology is the area involving work on the proposed merging of four technical fields: nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sciences, and cognitive science (NBIC) (Kahn, 2012). For example, you may imagine, through eventual application of the findings of NBIC R&D activity, the presentation of what may be referred to as a new, hybrid form of human presence. This would be one in which humans possess a wide variety of nano devices with communication and monitoring abilities, including devices that have to do with human intellectual functioning, permanently implanted inside of them as youngsters. This would apparently be done for health conservation, illness avoidance, or performance enhancing purposes. Suppose that this hard to believe practice became normal in our society, rather than being a rare occurrence or something that only the seriously ill or economically well-off patients were to receive. The common use of this technology by all people brings forward some ethical issues that some may not agree with. From the deontological stand point, implementing such technology would be wrong because it can easily be abused and thus should not be taken into
Utilitarianism
Since the human genome …show more content…
These, and many other issues, are not new and were never raised by nanotechnology alone. These common problems were raised in previous technological scientific situation that had nothing to do with nanotechnology.
Arguably, the most likely area for which to look for new kinds of ethical issues presented by nanotechnology is the area involving work on the proposed merging of four technical fields: nanotechnology, biotechnology, information sciences, and cognitive science (NBIC) (Kahn, 2012). For example, you may imagine, through eventual application of the findings of NBIC R&D activity, the presentation of what may be referred to as a new, hybrid form of human presence. This would be one in which humans possess a wide variety of nano devices with communication and monitoring abilities, including devices that have to do with human intellectual functioning, permanently implanted inside of them as youngsters. This would apparently be done for health conservation, illness avoidance, or performance enhancing purposes. Suppose that this hard to believe practice became normal in our society, rather than being a rare occurrence or something that only the seriously ill or economically well-off patients were to receive. The common use of this technology by all people brings forward some ethical issues that some may not agree with. From the deontological stand point, implementing such technology would be wrong because it can easily be abused and thus should not be taken into