Nanotechnology and Federal Funding

Bioethics.net has a great discourse on nanotech, funding, and the effects of funding.

The comments are great.

Mine may not be so great, but, here it is:

The fascination with, and alarm surrounding, nanotech reminds me of every environmental, medical, and socio-biological controversy I've read about for the last 40, uh, 30, years.

The kernal of truth is that we may be messin' with things we don't understand and won't be able to measure until it's too late.

When we add the "mad, bad, and dangerous to be around," scientist ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4596662.stm ) to the warrior stereotype, and Luddites will join with Progressives who will pick up a few Organic Gardeners along the way, in the effort to control results.

But, humans like to figure out patterns and we can't seem to leave well enough alone. Besides, it's fun.

We'll keep on taking the machine apart and rebuilding it, hoping we don't have any pieces left over when we put it back together and that we don't strip or lose any of the important parts while we're trying to figure out how things work and how to improve them.