Nanotechnology—should we be worried?

Abstract

From the development of the earliest stone tools to the most sophisticated microprocessor, man has increasingly, and sometimes unwittingly, shaped the world around him through the use of his technologies. These technologies impact upon all aspects of our lives. We depend upon them for the food we eat, our transport and our communications. We rely on them for clean water and an increasingly sophisticated level of healthcare. Whole periods of human history are labelled by reference to the dominant technology of the time—the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age, the computer age. We are all familiar with these terms and use them without thinking about the profound effect that each of the technologies had—both upon the societies that created them and on the planet itself. Frequently, we are not aware of the impacts the older technologies have had on the world in which we now live—for example, stone axes were used to fell the ancient forests that once covered the UK and created the downs and pasture that we now recognize as our “green and pleasant land”.