The Nanodialogues
Four experiments in upstream public engagement
Nanotechnology - the science of small things - promises to be one of the defining technologies of the 21st Century. But what will it mean for society and the environment? And how can public engagement in deciding the direction of research be moved 'upstream'?
Sing us a song, you're the nanoman
at 2:49pm on Friday, 13th May 2005Running really low on nano puns. No bad thing.
Just got back back from the annual Nanotechnology schmoozathon in Los Angeles. For most of the four days, I was more ethnographer than contributor. But there was a thoughtful session on "nanotechnology and society". I talked about See-through Science and our Nanodialogues project. Others, including Julia Moore and Don Reed, discussed the lessons from the GM saga. There was also talk of risk research and standards-setting.
The odd thing was that, while our session was not exactly overflowing, all of the big policy keynotes mentioned "public perception" or "social impacts" as major concerns. It's almost as though everyone knows they should think about these things, but doesn't know how.
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