Imagining Nanofutures

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This is material for a paper I'm working on to present at the George Mason conference on Utopias at the end of September.

Contents 1 Abstract 2 Materials and References 3 Main Questions 4 Key Points 5 Research Notes 5.1 Notes on Drexler 5.2 Notes from Materials 5.3 Notes from Jameson 5.4 Notes from Nanovision 5.5 Other important articles 6 Outline of Paper

[edit] Abstract

The past decade has been full of nanohype, an exuberant enthusiasm in funds and writing for this new form of technology. Fueled by utopian visions of miraculous nanobots and a never ending stream of nanoparticles promising to cure cancer, nanotechnology narratives have provided us with a new technology to fuel our visions of the future. These narratives have not been isolated to a few science enthusiasts, however; as consumer nanotechnologies have entered the market elements of nanohype—and its concurrent dystopian visions of an impending nanodestruction—have become essential parts of popular discourse about our future. It has often been pointed out that the construction of fictions about science and technologies (science fiction specifically) has a strong relationship to what we develop and build. For nanotechnology we see narratives that take the form of science fictions but present themselves as nonfiction—speculative accounts that are presented as a certainty, normally through journalistic means or scientific-like rhetoric. This study examines several online discussions from a wide variety of websites, from Amazon review boards to Huffington Post comments, and explores the nature and implications of these nonfictions, particularly in relation to the larger nonfictional accounts presented by the likes of Eric Drexler and Ray Kurzweil. Specifically, it looks at how these work to invite public discussion about the potential effects nanotechnology might have on our society, what should be done to regulate or encourage these technologies, and what place they will have once they have fully emerged. In studying how these nonfiction narratives are invited, constructed, and received we can look beyond the “hype” and start examining the legitimate ways in which the public has started to process the arrival of this new technology and reimaging their own present and future with its potentially revolutionary influence.

[edit] Materials and References

Nonfictional Materials

• Engines of Creation by Erik Drexler
• Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil
• The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil
• Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau
• "Why the future doesn't need us" by Bill Joy found here

Academic Works

• Nanovision by Colin Milburn
• Archeologies of the Future by Fredric Jameson
• Nanohype by David Berube

Gathered Conversations

• I have the a set of conversations that I gathered with Pat Gehrke last year for the purpose of completing another paper, which I am also using here. They will be listed below with notes.

[edit] Main Questions

1. How does the form of Nonfictional science discourse inform speculation and talk about nanotechnology?
2. How are everyday conversations about nanotechnology fundamentally dystopian and utopian?
3. How has the invitation to speculate and the discourse of futurology defined the way people think about this technology?
4. How might such discourse and speculation influence political and economic action in the public?

[edit] Key Points

[edit] Research Notes

[edit] Notes on Drexler

[edit] Notes from Materials

[edit] Notes from Jameson

[edit] Notes from Nanovision

[edit] Other important articles

[edit] Outline of Paper

• Introduction
• The Origin and Definition of Nanotechnology
  • Engines of creation
  • Subsequent history (using Berube's text?)
• A Definition of Utopia?
• The Materials Examined