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Nanoterrorism: New Responsibility for Our World and Future in the Global
TechnoScience

Vitaly G. Gorokhov

Institute for Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
Institute of Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis of the Research
Center Karlsruhe (Germany)
Vitaly.Grorokhov@itas.fzk.de

"Bioterrorism and chemical warfare are not unthinkable. Some groups do
not sign on to the Geneva Convention. The main hope against wildly
successful nanoterrorist acts is that the technology is so hard that the
dirty, easy tricks of simple murder and explosives will remain the
terrorists toolbox. Perhaps that's why there have been no acts of nuclear
blackmail so far".[1]
Scientists believe that if nanotechnology make it possible to model
some process, the technologist ought to apply "everything he has
understood", ought to implement this process in reality. Edward Teller, the
so-called father of the hydrogen bomb, stated in an interview that "the
scientist or technologist ought to apply everything he has understood and
should not put limits on that: whatever you understand, you should also
apply. This statement constitutes . an overstated ideology of technocratic
feasibility. It would turn, so to speak, Immanuel Kant´s old dictum "out
implies can" into a reverse technological imperative "can implies out".
Whether or not man is allowed to, or ought to make, apply, produce,
initiate, carry though everything he has able to make, or he can make and
do certainly comprises a specific and precarious ethical problem, indeed.
This is also acceptable for nanoethics and nanotechnology.
What real conditions are needed for the realization of the any
professional ethics?
Our civilization would be inconceivable without the many things
brought about by engineering. Engineers and designers have brought to life
what once seemed incredible and fantastic (manned space flight, television,
and so on), but they have also developed sophisticated means of mass
destruction. Although technology is per se ethically neutral, the engineer
cannot be indifferent regarding its application. However, a humanistic or
anti-humanistic orientation of an engineer does not only find expression
under extreme circumstances, it also has its implications in the engineer's
attitude towards the users of the products or with respect to the
environment. The primary aim of technology and technical activity is to be
useful to man, and this principle must be followed both in general and in
detail. You can hardly consider it good if an engineer has not done his
best to ensure ease of use, safety, absence of noise and pollution, and
other requirements placed on the installation, building, or machine that he
had designed. Even if those have been engineered through the effort of a
large team of professionals, the moral responsibility of each member of the
team for the product as a whole should not he diluted. There is another
important facet of the problem. Many current manufacturing processes in the
mass production of food, drugs, agricultural products and the like are
known to be harmful to man and to nature. Today, the social responsibility
of engineers and designers to society as a whole and to their clients is
particularly topical. While philosophers and scientists argue about the
best way to transform the world, engineers and designers are actually
transforming it, not always to the best advantage, and often to the
detriment, of people, society, and even mankind as a whole. That is why the
problems of scientific, technological and business ethics, social
responsibility scientists and engineers play a more and more important role
in modern technocience and society. But what are the conditions for the
realization professional ethics in social praxis?
This is first of all the existence of the developed scientific and
engineering community and then the development of the self-consciousness of
scientists and engineers through scientific and engineering education
systems. It is also important to have in society the social structures and
social institutions that support of the relevant and moral orientation of
scientists and engineers.[2] But these conditions do not else exist for the
time being in nanoscience and nanotechnology. There is as yet no
sustainable scientific and engineering community in the nanotechnoscience
because of its principal interdisciplinarity. There are no special
nanoethics courses in the system of nanoeducation and there is a lack of
the necessary institutional support in the Russia.[3] That is why nano-
scale implantants are already implemented in the human organism and even in
the human brain without satisfactory scientific explanation and
technological development.[4] In the last time there is an exponential
growth of new firms which manufacture and sale different nanoproducts.[5]
It is only through the connection between science, technology and
economy that the slogan Knowledge is Power can be realised. This
connection, on the one hand, leads to an instrumentalisation of knowledge,
and on the other hand, to a growing dependence of even «pure» science on
technology and economy. Man is placed in the centre of the world, his
economic activity being interpreted as «a new force of nature, a new world-
transforming factor that fundamentally differs from the other forces of
Nature». Technology, according to Bulgakov, is «a combination of possible
methods of man's impact on Nature for definite purposes set in advance».
The very possibility of technology comes from the actual accessibility of
nature for man's impact. Nature is treated as a passive source while man is
an active, conscious source and in this sense he becomes the centre of the
Universe, subordinating the rest of Nature to himself. «His potential world
domain gets partly and gradually realised through the economic process»
[6]. But the Man does not equal God, he «does not have omnipotence, ability
to create everything he wants out of nothing». Man can act freely and
originally only when he deals with the methods to use his own nature, his
own nature as well as environment being given to him. But in the USA, we
already find as an objective in the foreground a task in
«bionanotechnology» to make an ideal soldier ("Soldier Nanotechnologies")
with extension of human sensory abilities and expanding brain functions
through technical aids.[7] "Nanotechnology, in combination with
biotechnology and medicine, opens perspectives for fundamentally altering
and rebuilding the human body. At present, research is being done on tissue
and organ substitution, which could be realized with the help of the nano-
and stem cell technologies. Nanoimplants would be able to restore human
sensory functions or to complement them, but they would also be able to
influence the central nervous system. While the examples of medical
applications of nanotechnology cited remain within a certain traditional
framework - because the purpose consists of "healing" and "repairing"
deviations from an ideal condition of health, which is a classical medical
goal -, chances (or risks) of a remodelling and "improvement" of the human
body are opened up. This could mean extending human physical capabilities,
e.g., to new sensory functions (for example, broadening the electromagnetic
spectrum the eye is able to perceive). It could, however, also - by means
of the direct connection of mechanical systems with the human brain - give
rise to completely new interfaces between man and machine, with completely
unforeseeable consequences. Even completely technical organs and parts of
the body (or even entire bodies) are being discussed, which, in comparison
with biological organisms, are supposed to have advantages such as -
perhaps - increased stability against external influences".[8]
The future of "nature" and of human life seems to be in danger or at
risk. In the relation to nanotechnology we may today speak about Nano-
Armageddon.[9]
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[1] Nanoterrorism and What We Might Do About It
t.php?page=security.nanoterrorism
[2] Institutional support is required. See: Lenk, H.: Ethikkodizes fÝr
Ingenieure. In: Lenk, H., Ropohl, G. (Hrsg.) Technik und Ethik, S. 194, 200-
202. Reclam, Stuttgart (1987)
[3] In Germany different aspects of scientific and engineering ethics are
discussed and investigated already many years ago. See for instance, the
short description of their activity in: Schwanke, Ch. (Hrsg.): Ethik in
Wissenschaft und Technik. Erfahrungen und Perspektiven im
interdisziplinÄren Dialog. Forum Humane Technikgestaltung. Heft 11.
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Bonn (1994).
[4] See: MÝller, S.: Minimal-invasive und nanoskalige Therapien von
Gehirnerkrankungen: eine medizinethische Diskussion. In: Nordmann, A.,
Schummer, J., Schwarz, A. (Hrsg.) Nanotechnologien im Kontext. Akademische
Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin (2006); Baumgertner, C.. Nanotechnologie in der
Medizin als Gegenstand ethischer Reflexion: Problemfelder,
Herausforderungen; Implikationen. In: Nordmann, A., Schummer, J., Schwarz,
A. (Hrsg.) Nanotechnologien im Kontext. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft,
Berlin (2006)
[5] "Currently, special attention in the public risk debate is being paid
to synthetic nanoparticles. A vast potential market for nano-based products
is seen in this field. New products, based on new properties of nano-
materials can be brought about in admixtures or specific applications of
nanoparticles, for instance, e.g. in surface treatment, in cosmetics, or in
sunscreens" (Grunwald, A. Nanoparticles: Risk Management and the
Precautionary Principle. In: Emerging Conceptual, Ethical and Policy Issues
in Bionanotechnology. Springer, Frankfurt a.M. (2008)). "The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) says the rising number of cosmetics, drugs and other
products made using nanotechnology do not require special regulations or
labelling. In the US, at least 300 consumer products, including sunscreen,
toothpaste and shampoo are now made using nanotechnology, according to a
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars report. The FDA treats
products made with nanotechnology in the same way as other products -
requiring companies to prove their safety and efficacy before allowing them
to come to market. However, some product categories, including cosmetics,
foods and dietary supplements are not subject to FDA oversight before they
are sold, which already worries some advocates. Producing them with
nanotechnology adds another layer of concern. . The group cites studies
showing that certain nanoscale particles can cause inflammatory and immune
system responses in animals" (NewScientistTech: NewScientist.com news
service. http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12358-fda-finds-no-
proof-of-harm-with-nanotech-products.html (2007). Accessed 26 July 2007).
See also: Nanotechnologie erobert MÄrkte. Deutsche Zukunftsoffensive fÝr
Nanotechnologie. BMBF, VDI, Bonn, Berlin (2004); Scientific Committee on
Consumer Products SCCP. Opinion on safety of nanomaterials in cosmetic
products. European Commission.
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_sccp/docs/sccp_o_123.pdf
(2007).
[6] Bulgakov, S.N.: Philosophy of Economy, p. 89, 88, 112. NAUKA Publishing
House, Moscow (1990) (in Russian)
[7] The National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan. National Science
and Technology Council, Washington.
http://www.nano.gov/NNI_Strategic_Plan_2007.pdf (2007). Accessed 20
December 2007.
[8] Grunwald, A.: Nanotechnology - A New Field of Ethical Inquiry? In: Sci
Eng Ethics, 11, 2, 187 (2005)
[9] Schummer, J.: Nano-ErlÆsung oder Nano-Armageddon? Technikethik im
christlichen Fundamentalismus. In: Nordmann, A., Schummer, J., Schwarz, A.
(Hrsg.) Nanotechnologien im Kontext, S. 263. Akademische
Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin (2006)