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Part - IV
Like all new emerging technologies, nanotech too has been dragged into controversy. Nanotechnology will bring both great opportunities and even greater threats to humankind. Computers with nano power will extend desktop computational power by a factor of a billion or more. Nanoscale sensors, computers, and tools will bring surgical control to the molecular level, enabling a revolution in medicine. Light, strong, and inexpensive aerospace structures will make space flight easy.
Advanced lethal and non-lethal weapons, deployed quickly and inexpensively, could make the world a much more dangerous place. Bill Joy, Chief Scientist for Sun Microsystems, published an article entitled Why the Future Doesn't Need Us in the April 2000 issue of Wired magazine, which postulated that "our powerful 21st-Century technology - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology - are threatening the existence of humans." Joy argued that the convergence of information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology could result in intelligent, self-replicating nanoscale robots with potentially destructive consequences.
The tools required to develop nanotechnologies are typically small and unobtrusive. The pace of research is accelerating worldwide. Some suggest stopping it, but it is hard to imagine how. Thus, it seems that this technology, with all its challenges and opportunities, is an inevitable part of our future.
Concluded.
* Contributed by -
Dhawal Shah is described as a franchise enthusiast. He has always been intrigued by the power of franchising. Based in Mumbai, he constantly reads and writes on franchising and its enormous potential in India.
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