CAREER: Ethics and Belief Inside the Development of Nanotechnologies

从理论上讲，分子纳米技术将意味着从原子开始构建事物，精确地重新排列物质，并控制其结构本身的能力。纳米技术有望改善生活，并超越人类身体和精神的无数限制。分子纳米技术作为在人体内外工作的自我复制的超级智能机器，可能不仅会从根本上改变人类的身体，还会改变人类生活的社会、心理和精神层面。因此，现在正是时候，在理论发展阶段，开始探索分子纳米技术的伦理影响。这位研究者试图通过对纳米技术发展过程中话语的叙事分析来理解纳米技术的发展伦理。重点是在该领域工作的工程师和科学家回答以下问题：科学家和工程师将什么定义为与纳米技术发展相关的伦理问题？如果有的话，科学家和工程师如何想象面对或解决这些被定义的伦理问题？在发展纳米技术的伦理框架中，宗教观点和个人信仰可能在哪些方面成为一个因素？这些数据是从一系列口头和书面的论述中提取的，以便充分理解纳米技术开发者的伦理和信仰，从而揭示其很大程度上是隐性的，新形成的道德/伦理框架。有关纳米技术伦理的教科书，以及有关纳米技术研究者的希望和梦想的教育影片，有望作为这个项目的实际成果提供。

Theoretically, molecular nanotechnology will mean the ability to build things from the atom up, to rearrange matter with precision, and to control its very structure. Nanotechnology promises enhanced living, and the transcendence of myriad human physical and mental limitations. As self-replicating, super-intelligent machines working within and beyond the human body, molecular nanotechnology is likely to radically alter not just the physical, but the social, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of human life. Therefore, now is the time, in the theoretical stages of development, to begin to explore the ethical implications of molecular nanotechnology.This investigator seeks to understand the developing ethics of nanotechnology through a narrative analysis of discourse inside of its development. The focus is on engineers and scientists who are working in the field to answer the questions: What do scientists and engineers define as the ethical issues connected to the development of nanotechnology? How, if at all, do scientists and engineers imagine confronting or addressing those ethical issues as they are defined? In what ways might religious perspectives and personal beliefs be a factor in the ethical framework of developing nanotechnology?The data are drawn from an array of discourses, oral and written, in order to richly understand the ethics and beliefs of the developers of nanotechnology, thus revealing its largely tacit, newly forming moral/ethical frameworks. A textbook on nanotechnology ethics, and eventually, educational film on the hopes and dreams of nanotechnology investigators, are hoped to be offered as tangible outcomes of this project.