Transcript Nanotechnology: the next big idea Week 4: Confrontations, panics, and more Maryse de la Giroday 6-week course SFU Liberal Arts & Adults 55+ program.

Nanotechnology: the next big idea
Week 4: Confrontations, panics, and
more
Maryse de la Giroday
6-week course
SFU Liberal Arts & Adults 55+ program
Rutherford-Bohr (solar system model)
• In 1913, Neils Bohr, a student of [Ernest] Rutherford's,
developed a new model of the atom. He proposed that
electrons are arranged in concentric circular orbits
around the nucleus.
Schrödinger’s quantum mechanical
model
• In 1926 Erwin Schrödinger, an Austrian physicist, took the
Bohr atom model one step further. Schrödinger used
mathematical equations to describe the likelihood of
finding an electron in a certain position. This atomic model
is known as the quantum mechanical model of the atom.
Credits for atomic models
• Images:
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/ru
therford.html
• Text:
http://www.abcte.org/files/previews/chemistr
y/s1_p6.html
Higgs controversy?
• Maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle after all, Nov.
7, 2014 on http://phys.org/news/2014-11-wasnthiggs-particle.html
• The researchers' analysis does not debunk the
possibility that CERN has discovered the Higgs
particle. That is still possible - but it is equally
possible that it is a different kind of particle.
• "The current data is not precise enough to
determine exactly what the particle is. It could be
a number of other known particles", says Mads
Toudal Frandsen.
Higgs controversy?
• "We believe that it may be a so-called techni-higgs particle.
This particle is in some ways similar to the Higgs particle hence half of the name", says Mads Toudal Frandsen.
• Although the techni-higgs particle and Higgs particle can
easily be confused in experiments, they are two very
different particles belonging to two very different theories
of how the universe was created.
• The Higgs particle is the missing piece in the theory called
the Standard Model.
• Paper here: http://arxiv.org/abs/1309.2097 (2013)
• Or :
https://journals.aps.org/authenticate?rt=/prd/abstract/10.
1103/PhysRevD.90.035012 (Aug. 2014)
Supercapacitors
• Remember Captain America’s shield?
• Queensland University of Technology and Rice
University announce a film which could turn car panels
into supercapacitors (Nov. 6 & Nov. 7, 2014,
respectively)
– The film could be embedded in a car’s body panels, roof,
doors, bonnet and floor – storing enough energy to
turbocharge an electric car’s battery in just a few minutes.
– As currently designed, the supercapacitors can be charged
through regenerative braking and are intended to work
alongside the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, said
co-author Notarianni, a Queensland graduate student.
Supercapacitors
• A scanning electron microscope image shows freestanding
graphene film with carbon nanotubes attached. The material is part
of a project to create lightweight films containing super capacitors
that charge quickly and store energy. Courtesy of Nunzio
Motta/Queensland University of Technology
Brain-to-brain
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=6817 video:
Thoughtwaves and robot arm (May 17, 2012 at
Brown University; BrainGate and DARPA; video)
• Miguel Nicolelis, a professor at Duke University,
has been making international headlines lately
with two brain projects. The first one about
implanting a brain chip that allows rats to
perceive infrared light was mentioned in my Feb.
15, 2013 posting.
Brain-to-brain
• The latest project is a brain-to-brain (rats)
communication project as per a Feb. 28, 2013
news release on *EurekAlert,
– Researchers have electronically linked the brains
of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to
communicate directly to solve simple behavioral
puzzles. A further test of this work successfully
linked the brains of two animals thousands of
miles apart—one in Durham, N.C., and one in
Natal, Brazil.
Brain-to-brain
•
The results of these projects suggest the
future potential for linking multiple brains to
form what the research team is calling an
“organic computer,” which could allow sharing
of motor and sensory information among
groups of animals. The study was published
Feb. 28, 2013, in the journal Scientific Reports.
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=9400
Brain-to-brain 2014
• University of Washington researchers have
successfully replicated a direct brain-to-brain
connection between pairs of people as part of a
scientific study following the team's initial
demonstration a year ago. In the newly published
study, which involved six people, researchers
were able to transmit the signals from one
person's brain over the Internet and use these
signals to control the hand motions of another
person within a split second of sending that
signal.
Brain-to-brain 2014
• At the time of the first experiment in August 2013, the
UW team was the first to demonstrate two human
brains communicating in this way. The researchers then
tested their brain-to-brain interface in a more
comprehensive study, published Nov. 5 in the journal
PLOS ONE.
• "The new study brings our brain-to-brain interfacing
paradigm from an initial demonstration to something
that is closer to a deliverable technology," said coauthor Andrea Stocco, a research assistant professor of
psychology and a researcher at UW's Institute for
Learning & Brain Sciences.
Brain-to-brain 2014
• "Now we have replicated our methods and know
that they can work reliably with walk-in
participants.“
• http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/201411/uow-uss110514.php
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRsx5egJoYk#
action=share (video)
• Research paper:
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.011133
2
Nanotips
• http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2014/11/04/vanc
ouver-startup-nanotips-pitches-dragons-withtouchscreen-gloves-solution/ (Gillian Shaw)
• [Tony] Go said it took six months to find a
solution that would last on gloves. The result of
the research is a conductive polyamide liquid
solution, using nanotechnology, that transforms
anything from snowboarding gloves to golf gloves
into touchscreen gloves.
Nanotips
• Kickstarter: Comprised of evenly dispersed ultra-fine
conductive nanoparticles, each particle is carefully
prepped and made to interlink with one
another. These particles are suspended in a solution
which allows the nanoparticles to remain chained to
one another even under extreme physical
stressors. When applied to fabrics, Nanotips Blue soaks
into the material and effectively creates a conductive
chain, bridging the gap between your finger and the
touchscreen device.
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=12506
• http://www.nanotips.com/products/
Selling Interstellar (movie: Nov. 7, 2014
release)
• Good science or bad science?
• Bad science:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_sci
ence/space_20/2014/11/interstellar_science_
review_the_movie_s_black_holes_wormholes
_relativity.html by Dr. Phil Plait (astronomer)
Selling Interstellar (movie: Nov. 7, 2014
release)
– Cooper successfully pilots the ship through the
wormhole (which was lovely and quite well-done,
even down to the much-used explanation of how
wormholes work borrowed from A Wrinkle in Time),
and on the other side he and his crew find the threeplanet system, which is inexplicably orbiting a black
hole. I sighed audibly at this part. Where do the
planets get heat and light? You kinda need a star for
that. Heat couldn’t be from the black hole itself,
because later (inevitably) Cooper has to go inside the
black hole, and he doesn’t get fried. So the planets
inexplicably are habitable despite no nearby source of
warmth.
Selling Interstellar (movie: Nov. 7, 2014
release)
• Good science?
– There will be black holes, and they will be crazy. But
before you try to make sense of them, try reading up
on the work of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, the
Stephen Hawking/Carl Sagan colleague who is one of
the movie’s executive producers and helped Nolan
imagine certain scenes.
• http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/m
ovieguide/watch+Interstellar+spoiler+free+primer/10
359517/story.html (Stephanie Merry, Washington
Post)
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• … as Will’s powers grow, he begins to pull off fantastic
achievements, including giving a blind man sight,
regenerating his own body and spreading his power to the
water and the air.
• This conjecture was influenced by nanotechnology, the field
of manipulating matter at the scale of a nanometer, or onebillionth of a meter. (By comparison, a human hair is
around 70,000-100,000 nanometers wide.)
• “In some circles, nanotechnology is the holy grail,” says
Paglen [Jack Paglen], screenwriter, “where we could have
microscopic, networked machines [emphasis mine] that
would be capable of miracles.”
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• The potential uses of, and implications for,
nanotechnology are vast and widely debated, but many
believe the effects could be life-changing.
• “When I visited MIT,” says Pfister [Oscar-winning
cinematographer Wally Pfister (“Inception,” “The Dark
Knight”)] “I visited a cancer research institute. They’re
talking about the ability of nanotechnology to be
injected inside a human body, travel immediately to a
cancer cell, and deliver a payload of medicine directly
to that cell, eliminating [the need to] poison the whole
body with chemo.” …
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• “Nanotechnology could help us live longer,
move faster and be stronger. It can possibly
cure cancer, and help with all human
ailments.”
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=13093
• The movie is about anti-technology activists
• It also references ‘the singularity’
• The protagonist’s consciousness is uploaded
after an attack from anti-technology activists
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• The technological singularity, or simply the
singularity, is a hypothetical moment in time
when artificial intelligence will have progressed
to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence,
radically changing civilization, and perhaps
human nature.[1] Because the capabilities of
such an intelligence may be difficult for a human
to comprehend, the technological singularity is
often seen as an occurrence (akin to a
gravitational singularity) beyond which the future
course of human history is unpredictable or even
unfathomable.
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• The first use of the term “singularity” in this context was by
mathematician John von Neumann. In 1958, regarding a
summary of a conversation with von Neumann, Stanislaw
Ulam described “ever accelerating progress of technology
and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the
appearance of approaching some essential singularity in
the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we
know them, could not continue”.[2] The term was
popularized by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge, who
argues that artificial intelligence, human biological
enhancement, or brain-computer interfaces could be
possible causes of the singularity.[3] Futurist Ray Kurzweil
cited von Neumann’s use of the term in a foreword to von
Neumann’s classic The Computer and the Brain.
Selling Transcendence (movie: April
18, 2014 release)
• Proponents of the singularity typically postulate an
“intelligence explosion”,[4][5] where superintelligences
design successive generations of increasingly powerful
minds, that might occur very quickly and might not stop
until the agent’s cognitive abilities greatly surpass that of
any human.
• Kurzweil predicts the singularity to occur around 2045[6]
whereas Vinge predicts some time before 2030.[7] At the
2012 Singularity Summit, Stuart Armstrong did a study of
artificial generalized intelligence (AGI) predictions by
experts and found a wide range of predicted dates, with a
median value of 2040. His own prediction on reviewing the
data is that there is an 80% probability that the singularity
will occur between 2017 and 2112.[8]
Singularity University
• Our mission is to educate, inspire and empower
leaders to apply exponential technologies to address
humanity’s grand challenges.
• Singularity University is a benefit corporation that
provides educational programs, innovative
partnerships and a startup accelerator to help
individuals, businesses, institutions, investors, NGOs
and governments understand cutting-edge
technologies, and how to utilize these technologies
to positively impact billions of people.
• Founded by Ray Kurzweil
Singularity discussion
• The recent movie “Transcendence” will not be troubling the
sci-fi canon of classics, if the reviews are anything to go by.
But its central plot device – “uploading” a human
consciousness to a computer – remains both a central
aspiration of transhumanists, and a source of queasy
fascination to the rest of us. The idea is that someone’s
mind is simply a computer programme, that in the future
could be run on a much more powerful computer than a
brain, just as one might run an old arcade game on a
modern PC in emulation mode. “Mind uploading” has a
clear appeal for people who wish to escape the constraints
of our flesh and blood existence, notably the constraint of
our inevitable mortality.
Singularity discussion
• In this post I want to consider two questions about
mind uploading, from my perspective as a scientist. I’m
going to use as an operational definition of “uploading
a mind” the requirement that we can carry out a
computer simulation of the activity of the brain in
question that is indistinguishable in its outputs from
the brain itself. For this, we would need to be able to
determine the state of an individual’s brain to sufficient
accuracy that it would be possible to run a simulation
that accurately predicted the future behaviour of that
individual and would convince an external observer
that it faithfully captured the individual’s identity.
Singularity discussion
• I’m entirely aware that this operational definition already
glosses over some deep conceptual questions, but it’s a
good concrete starting point. My first question is whether it
will be possible to upload the mind of anyone reading this
now. My answer to this is no, with a high degree of
probability, given what we know now about how the brain
works, what we can do now technologically, and what
technological advances are likely in our lifetimes. My
second question is whether it will ever be possible to
upload a mind, or whether there is some point of principle
that will always make this impossible. I’m obviously much
less certain about this, but I remain skeptical.
• (http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=1558)
Transhumanism and singularity
• Transhumanism is an ideology, a movement, or a
belief system, which predicts and looks forward
to a future in which an increasing integration of
technology with human beings leads to a
qualititative, and positive, change in human
nature. It sees a trajectory from a current
situation in which certain human disabilities and
defects can be corrected, through an increasing
tendency to use these technologies to enhance
the capabilities of humans, to world in which
human and machine are integrated to a cyborg
existence.
Transhumanism and singularity
• Finally, we may leave all traces of our biological
past behind, as humans “upload” their
intelligence into powerful computers. These ideas
are intimately connected with the idea of a
“Singularity”, a moment at which accelerating
technological change becomes so fast that we
pass through an “event horizon” to a radically
unknowable future. According to Ray Kurzweil,
transhumanism’s most visible and well known
spokesman, this event will take place in or around
2045.
Nano, transhumanism, and singularity
• Richard Jones is the author of Soft Machines:
nanotechnology and life, a book about
nanotechnology. … He is a Professor of Physics
and the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and
Innovation at the University of Sheffield.
• http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=
1558
• http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=
1549
Back to ‘Entertainment and science:
serious business’
• Apparently Hollywood came calling at the American
Chemical Society’s (ACS) 242nd National Meeting
(August 28 – Sept. 1, 2011). They were asking scientists
to volunteer as advisors. From the August 29, 2011
news item on Science Daily,
• In this International Year of Chemistry (IYC), writers and
producers for the most popular crime and sciencerelated television shows and movies are putting out an
all-points bulletin for scientists to advise them on the
accuracy of their plots involving lab tests, crime scenes,
etc., and to even give them story ideas.
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• They really do want to get it right, and this is very good
news for young people who absorb the information from
these shows, and this helps shape their positive career
decisions. That’s the message delivered in Denver by
producers and writers from top television shows speaking
at a special Presidential Event at the American Chemical
Society’s (ACS) 242nd National Meeting & Exposition.
• … They spoke at a symposium entitled “Science on the
Hollywood Screen.” In addition to CSI, other shows
represented were Breaking Bad, CSI New York, Buffy,
Battlestar and Torchwood.
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=4279 (Sept. 2011)
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• Yesterday, June 27, 2013 TED-Ed (TED is technology,
entertainment, and design [conferences]) launched a new
video series, Superhero Science: If superpowers were real .
Here’s more from the announcement,
• TED-Ed, TED’s education arm whose mission is to amplify
the voice of great teachers, is rolling out today a six video
series called “If superpowers were real…” ..:
• For instance, did you know that if you were invisible then
you also technically could not see because no light would
reflect off your retina? Or if you had super strength and
actually ran and caught the damsel in distress, that you’d
do more damage to her body than the ground would? Or
bugs would destroy your face if you could fly?
(http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=10543 June 2013)
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• UC Berkeley gets in on the act:
– Fame wasted no time. By early March [2009], "The
Nano Song" had spread virally, with mentions by
PhysOrg.com, Scientific American, WIRED, and
boingboing. When YouTube featured the video on its
home page, it quickly racked up close to 300,000 hits
(as of the first week of March), along with a mountain
of comments from viewers, like "'Nano Song' is
rocking the globe!"
• http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/
03/06_nanosong.shtml
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• ... Magical Materials is a free, month long show at Science
Gallery which explores the peculiar properties of the
world’s most futuristic and spectacular materials. Visitors to
the exhibition will have a chance to see, touch and
experience almost fifty Magical Materials including:
• Aerogel, the lightest solid in the world (dubbed ‘solid
smoke’)
• Graphene, a layer of graphite just one atom thick but 200
times stronger than steel
• Smart textiles that store information, keep your gadgets
charged and raise oxygen levels in blood.
• http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=8005 (Sept. 2012)
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• Magical Materials; Unleash Your Superpowers
exhibit
• Six nanotechnology superheroes have been
created for this, here’s Florogirl,
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• The sixth and final superhero comic book cover in artist
Stephen Byrne’s MAGICAL MATERIALS-inspired series sees
him bringing to life a category of materials called Designed
By Nature [aka biomimicry]. …
• Inspired by artificial photosynthesis, Stephen imagined an
investigative reporter who had accidentally exposed herself
to nickel-molybdenum-zinc, and found herself able to
imitate the process of photosynthesis by converting light
from the sun and moisture from the air into energy, and
named her Florogirl. Florogirl can use her powers to create
highly concentrated energy beams, and while she can store
up energy, she runs the risk of running out of her energy
reserves at night. http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=8005 (Sept.
2012)
Entertainment and science: serious
business
• The latest offering is Patient Zero from Black Rooster
Creations. From the Oct. 18, 2011 media release on PRWeb,
• Black Rooster Creations has launched its website with a
viral campaign and three major book releases written by
screenwriter Jim Beck featuring zombies, superheroes, and
yes, even bugs. The first release, Patient Zero, serves as a
cautionary tale that mixes old school zombies with new
school technology. Narrated by the zombie virus itself, the
story follows single father Robert Forrester, who is brought
back to life as one of the living dead after a botched
experiment involving nanotechnology. [emphasis mine]
His transformation is slow, first appearing as a skin rash and
advanced arthritis, and he quickly begins to lose control.
(http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=4869 Oct. 2011)
Late night US television
• Kevin Delaney is Director of Visitor Experience at the
Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Last Friday’s
[Nov. 7, 2014] segment marked his second appearance on
The Tonight Show this year (the first was in May). ...
• Delaney was approached by the program shortly before
Fallon moved to the 11:30 slot in February. Staff have
apparently approached many different science museums
and organizations to find people like Kevin Delaney.
• David Bruggeman
(http://pascophronesis.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/fallonmight-just-have-his-resident-scientist/)
Nano, the Canadian Army, and a
science fiction novelist
• In 2005 the Canadian army commissioned a science
fiction author (Karl Schroeder) to write a book about a
future military crisis. Schroeder has included some
nanotechnology applications in his future war book,
Crisis in Zefra, such as ‘smart dust’. I haven’t read the
book yet. Apparently the army has run out of copies
but you can get a PDF version from Schroeder’s
website here. Do check out the website blog where he
includes some science bits and pieces in his postings.
According to the article here, Schroeder has been
commissioned to write a sequel. …
http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=130 Feb. 2009
Nano, the Canadian Army, and a
science fiction novelist
• Crisis in Zefra
– … the Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts of
National Defense Canada (that is to say, the army)
hired me [Schroeder] to write a dramatized future
military scenario. The book-length work, Crisis in
Zefra, was set in a mythical African city-state, about 20
years in the future, and concerned a group of
Canadian peacekeepers who are trying to ready the
city for its first democratic vote while fighting an
insurgency. Both the peacekeepers and the insurgents
use a range of new technologies, some fantasticsounding, but all in development in 2005…
Nano, the Canadian Army, and a
science fiction novelist
• Crisis in Urlia
– In 2010, I was hired to write a followup to Zefra
entitled Crisis in Urlia, which was published in
May, 2014. Urlia deals with a drought-and-famine
situation in a coastal city in the 'Pakistani-Indian
plurinational zone.' This city, Urlia, has a
population of more than a million but is less than
ten years old, having sprung up using new money
and Chinese kit-city technologies.
Nano, the Canadian Army, and a
science fiction novelist
– A new disease breaks out while a Canadian rapidresponse team is on the ground in Urlia, and as the
situation threatens to spiral out of control, an
increasingly intricate web of alliances, relationships
and protocols comes to bear on the problem.
– Urlia explores the concept of 'wicked problems' as
well as the future of command-and-control in a
networked and multi-stakeholder world. One principle
whose ramifications are explored is Ashby's Law of
Requisite Variety, which states that any control system
must have at least as many internal degrees of
freedom as the system it models;
Nano, the Canadian Army, and a
science fiction novelist
– applied to a scenario where multiple problems
intersect--(famine, drought, political instability,
disease and corruption), where nobody can even
agree on the definition of the problem, there are no
single solutions or even any metric to decide when a
solution has succeeded--in such chaos, can a
traditional military/political machine cope without
pursuing the 'radical simplification' of the situation
implied by an imposition of martial law and military
government?
– (http://www.kschroeder.com/foresightconsulting/crisis-in-zefra)
Crisis in Urlia (2011 excerpt)
• …
• Miraculously, his glasses had stayed on. There
was nothing to see but swirling dust an inch from
his face, but their display was still working; so he
was able to watch the local loitering index
suddenly plummet from about two dozen, to
zero. He could picture the scene: everybody on
the street running pell-mell as the echoes of the
rocket attack faded.
• These modern conveniences, he thought in
wonder. And then he passed out.
Crisis in Urlia (2011 excerpt)
• ENDNOTES
• 1. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18036augmented-reality-system-lets-you-see-throughwalls.html
• ...
• 4. Location-dependent tags are a major component of
augmented-reality systems. For an example current in
2010, see http://www.psfk.com/2009/08/mobileaugmented-reality-tagging.html.
• http://vanguardcanada.com/crisis-in-urlia/ (Vanguard;
Forum for Canada’s Security and Defence )
Arizona State University and the
Center for Science and the Imagination
• http://csi.asu.edu/
– Project Hieroglyph (Michael Crow & Neal
Stephenson)
•
•
•
•
Writers and alternatives to dystopian futures
Talks at Google: Project Hieroglyph
‘moonshot projects’ and the US psyche
Cory Doctorow (Canadian-born author) one of the
contributors
Hieroglyph and the US White House
• As one of the contributors to the Hieroglyph anthology,
I [Karl Schroeder] was invited down to the White House
in early October 2014 to talk about optimistic futures
• The Hieroglyph anthology has certainly had legs. It
brought a whole bunch of us authors and the editors to
the White House to talk to the Office of Science and
Technology Policy about how to engage a new
generation of young people to go into the science and
engineering professions.
• (http://www.kschroeder.com/weblog)
Techno-moral panics
• Technopanics: Moral Panics about Technology
• MIT Course Number: CMS.S60 / CMS.S96
– Ong, Walter J. "Writing Restructures
Consciousness," and "Print, Space and Closure." In
Orality and Literacy. 30th anniv. ed. Routledge,
2012. ISBN: 9780415538374.niversity Press, 2003.
ISBN: 9780335209088.
Techno-moral panics
• MIT Course Number: CMS.S60 / CMS.S96
– Standage, Tom. "Electric Skeptics." In The Victorian
Internet. Walker, 1998. ISBN: 9780297841487.
(http://conu212standage.wordpress.com/chapterssummary/3-electric-skeptics/)
– Spigel, Lynn. "Seducing the Innocent: Childhood and
Television in Postwar America." In Welcome to the
Dreamhouse: Popular Media and Postwar Suburbs. Duke
University Press, 2001.
– Thomas, Douglas. "Rethinking the Cyberbody: Hackers,
Viruses, and Cultural Anxiety." In Technological Visions:
Hopes And Fears That Shape New Technologies. Edited by
Marita Sturken, Douglas Thomas, and Sandra Ball-Rokeach.
Temple University Press, 2004. ISBN: 9781592132270.
Techno-moral panics
• MIT Course Number: CMS.S60 / CMS.S96
– Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The
Atlantic, July 1, 2008.
– Bilton, Nick. "The Defense of Computers, the Internet,
and Our Brains." The New York Times Bits blog. June
11, 2010.
– Cassell, Justine, and Meg Cramer. "High Tech or High
Risk: Moral Panics about Girls Online." (PDF) In Digital
Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. Edited by Tara
McPherson. MIT Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780262633598.
Technology fears and cycles
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_7p4cvB
URk&feature=player_embedded (This hour
has 22 minutes)
The roots of the controversy over
‘Frankenfoods’
• Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by
Mary Shelley, published in 1818, again in 1823
and revised in 1831
• The monster is unnamed; the scientist is
Victor Frankenstein.
• Prometheus an accepted metaphor for an
artist is replaced here by a scientist
• Mary Shelley Frankenstein edited by M. R.
Joseph, Oxford University Press, 1969
Frankenstein and myths
• Reference to Prometheus is a reference to
boundary crossing and progressiveness with the
monster representing the fears of crossing
boundaries and dealing with consequences
(Cultural history of Frankenstein, 2007, WW
Norton & Company)
• This is now considered a classic confrontation
between new and old technology
• Metaphorically, Frankenstein has served in many
roles
Mary Shelley and electricity
• The science that inspired Mary Shelley to
write "Frankenstein" is nearly as strange as
the novel itself. Written in 1818, the book was
influenced by a scientific feud that ushered in
the first battery and our modern
understanding of electricity.
• http://www.insidescience.org/content/scienc
e-made-frankenstein/1116
When old technologies were new
• “A view that natural manifestations were part
of a dialogue between man and the world saw
nature’s retreat from technology as a
threatening development ...”
• Discussion of electricity in When old
technologies were new; thinking about
electric communication in the late 19th
century by Carolyn Marvin, Oxford University
Press, 1988 p. 118)
Frankenstein and other monsters are
malleable
• Horror
– Electricity (the unnatural)
– Disfigurement
– Childbirth
– Etc.
• Humour
Frankenstein and food
• 1992 , Paul Lewis, a lecturer at Boston College,
known for his pronouncements against
technology writes a letter to the NY Times
about the FDA and being more vigilant about
genetically modified agricultural products ... P.
288)
• Cultural history of Frankenstein, Susan Tyler
Hitchcock)
Frankenstein and food
• Ever since Mary Shelley’s Baron rolled his
improved human out of the lab, scientists
having been bringing just such good things to
life. .. If they want to sell us Frankenfood,
perhaps it’s time to gather the villagers, light
some torches, and head to the castle.” (p. 288)
• (Cultural history of Frankenstein, 2007)
Frankenstein and food
• Later that month in 1992, there was a NY Times
article citing developments in the field and Lewis’
letter as proof people were uneasy.
• Article was titled: Genetecists’ Latest Discovery:
Public Fear of “Frankenfoods”
• British tabloid writers pick up the “Frankenfoods”
reference and run with it
• Then, civil society (activist groups) use it too for
one of their most successful campaigns & they
successfully rebrand this as GMO (genetically
modified organisms) p. 288
Nanotechnology advocates run scared
• In the wake of GMO, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD),
stem cell controversies, scientists and policy makers
were very concerned about nanotechnology
• Many, many public engagement projects developed
especially in Europe
• Nanologue,, a European Union nanotechnology public
engagement project was completed in 2004
• Nanochannels, last mentioned in my Jan. 27, 2011
posting, is a Europe-wide public engagement project
(http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=3725)
• Nanopinon; what do Europeans think about
nanotechnology (http://nanopinion.eu/0
Nanotechnology advocates run scared
• NanoDiode: Stakeholder engagement and
dialogue are essential to the responsible
development of nanotechnologies in Europe. The
European FP7 project NanoDiode, launched in
July 2013 (http://www.nanodiode.eu/aboutnanodiode/)
• Understanding Public Debate on
Nanotechnologies; Options for Framing Public
Policy (109 pp,
http://www.nanotechproject.org/process/assets/
files/8304/debate_nano_100203.pdf)
Nanotechnology advocates run scared
• UK initiatives
– http://www.nanoandme.org/home/
– http://www.matterforall.org/
• 2009 survey of UK nano engagement initiatives
(http://www.softmachines.org/wordpress/?p=44
3)
• Nanochannels and the Guardian newspaper
– http://www.theguardian.com/nanotechnology-world
• Listing of initiatives at
http://www.nanotechia.org/activity-objectiveareas/public-engagement-communication
Nanotechnology advocates run scared
• US:
– NISENet (Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network)
– PEN (Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies)
– Andrew Maynard: “This [2003 US nano research act]
resulted in two academic Centers for Nanotechnology and
Society being established—one at Arizona State University
and another at the University of California Santa Barbara.
But apart from the research conducted by these centers,
there has been little in the way of true public engagement
on nanotechnology in the US, in terms of enabling citizens
to enter a two-way dialogue with decision-makers.”
(http://2020science.org/2009/01/13/nanotechnologyscience-and-public-engagement-lessons-from-the-uk/ )
Nanotechnology advocates run scared
• Canada (not so much)
– Nanotechnology, Ethical, Environmental,
Economic, Legal and Social Issues—NE3LS at the
NINT (Canada’s National Institute of
Nanotechnology located on the University of
Alberta campus) : Lori Sheremeta and Timothy
Caulfield (both are lawyers)
– NINT no longer seems to have a NE3LS project on
its site as of Nov. 13, 2014 (http://nint-innt.ca/)
Berkeley and nano
• The City of Berkeley (US) December 2006
• The Berkeley Municipal Code is amended to introduce
new measures regarding manufactured nanomaterial
health and safety
• These amendments require facilities that manufacture
or use nanomaterials to disclose in writing which
nanomaterials are being used as well as the current
toxicology of the materials reported (to the extent
known) and to further describe how the facility will
safely handle, monitor, contain, dispose, track
inventory, prevent releases and mitigate such
materials.
Berkeley and nano
• Berkeley is currently the only municipal
government in the United States to regulate
nanotechnology
• (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=14064)
Yale Law School Cultural Cognition
Project
• The Cultural Cognition Project is a group of
scholars interested in studying how cultural
values shape public risk perceptions and related
policy beliefs. Cultural cognition refers to the
tendency of individuals to conform their beliefs
about disputed matters of fact (e.g., whether
global warming is a serious threat; whether the
death penalty deters murder; whether gun
control makes society more safe or less) to values
that define their cultural identities.
Yale Law School Cultural Cognition
Project
• Project members are using the methods of
various disciplines -- including social psychology,
anthropology, communications, and political
science -- to chart the impact of this
phenomenon and to identify the mechanisms
through which it operates. The Project also has
an explicit normative objective: to identify
processes of democratic decisionmaking by which
society can resolve culturally grounded
differences in belief in a manner that is both
congenial to persons of diverse cultural outlooks
and consistent with sound public policymaking.
Yale Law School Cultural Cognition
Project
• Nanotechnology Risk Perceptions project in
the wake of the Berkeley nano bylaw
• 2007 – 2009 (papers)
Civil society groups gear up for battle
• FOE (Friends of the Earth)
• Nanotechnology is a powerful emerging technology for
taking apart and reconstructing nature at the atomic
and molecular level. Nanoscale -- or extremely tiny -materials now show up in a broad array of consumer
products. Nanoparticles show novel physicochemical
properties in comparison to larger sized particles of the
same substance. While nanotechnology is being touted
as a potential catalyst for the next industrial revolution
and could have far-ranging impacts, the field is being
commercialized largely outside of public view or
debate, and with few regulations to protect workers,
the public and the environment.
Civil society groups gear up for battle
• Friends of the Earth is pushing our
government and policymakers in other
countries to regulate nanotech industries with
a precautionary approach that puts people's
health before corporate profits. We also push
for the mandatory labeling of products that
contain nanomaterials so that consumers can
make informed decisions.
Civil society groups gear up for battle
• Tiny Ingredients, big risks: Nanomaterials rapidly
entering food and farming
• Nano-silver: Policy failure puts public health at
risk
• Nanotechnology, climate and energy: Overheated promises and hot air?
– This groundbreaking report rigorously examines
claims that nanotechnology will allow for continued
economic growth and resource use while minimizing
environmental impacts, showing that to date
nanotechnology has failed to make good on these
promises.
Civil society groups gear up for battle
• Out of the laboratory and onto our plates: Nanotechnology
in food & agriculture.
– This report finds that untested nanotechnology is being used in
more than 100 food products, food packaging and contact
materials currently on the shelf, without warning or FDA testing.
• Nanomaterials, Sunscreens and Cosmetics: Small
Ingredients, Big Risks
• Manufactured nanomaterials and sunscreens: Top reasons
for precaution
– Nanomaterials are already being used (unlabelled) in hundreds
of consumer products including sunscreens and cosmetics. This
report explains why this is reason for concern.
Civil society groups gear up for battle
• The ETC Group (based in Canada)
– Even in 2007/8, US scientists were still irate about
The ETC Group’s role in the GMO ‘debates’ or
debacle, depending on your perspective
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVsWEB5
2bvA (Pat Roy Mooney in 2009)
Mooney and the gold nanoparticles
• Oddly, Mooney spends quite a bit of time
suggesting that gold nanoparticles are a problem.
That may be but the more concerning issue is
with silver nanoparticles which are used
extensively in clothing and which wash off easily.
This means silver nanoparticles are ending up in
the water supply and in our fish populations.
Studies with zebrafish strongly suggest far more
problems with silver nanoparticles than gold
nanoparticles. (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=909)
Gold and silver nanoparticle toxicity
• Toxicity assessments of multisized gold and silver
nanoparticles in zebrafish embryos by Bar-Ilan O, Albrecht
RM, Fako VE, Furgeson DY.
– Although cAg toxicity is slightly size dependent at certain
concentrations and time points, the most striking result is that
parallel sizes of cAg and cAu induce significantly different toxic
profiles, with the former being toxic and the latter being inert in
all exposed sizes. Therefore, it is proposed that nanoparticle
chemistry is as, if not more, important than specific nanosizes at
inducing toxicity in vivo. Ultimately such assessments using the
zebrafish embryo model should lead to the identification of
nanomaterial characteristics that afford minimal or no toxicity
and guide more rational designs of materials on the nanoscale.
ETC view
• ETC Group has called for a moratorium on the
environmental release or commercial use of
nanomaterials, a ban on self-assembling
nanomaterials and on patents on nanoscale
technologies.
• http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/nanotechnol
ogy
• Accessed Nov. 10, 2014
World Social Forum, Tunis 2013 (ETC
Group)
• New, high-risk technologies, ranging from the
very small (synthetic biology, nanotechnology)
to the very large (geoengineering), are being
rapidly developed. Promoters promise
solutions, but the precautionary principle and
social and economic impacts are often ignored
in the rush to deploy the latest technofix.
World Social Forum, Tunis 2013 (ETC
Group)
• Without the strict application of the precautionary
principle, and a transparent and real participatory way
to assess impacts, these new technologies could wreak
more havoc on our already fragile planet, battered by
reckless and unsustainable forms of production. To
deal with the onslaught of ever more powerful
technologies, civil society organizations, movements,
indigenous peoples and peasant organizations need to
self-organize to create Technology Observation
Platforms (TOPs).
• http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/nanotechnology
Precautionary Principle
• http://www.riskscience.umich.edu/risk-bitesprecautionary-principle-good-bad/ (Andrew
Maynard video)
• Mentioned on Person of Interest tv episode
broadcast in the US & Canada, Oct. 30, 2014,
in connection with artificial intelligence
Precautionary Principle
• The precautionary principle or precautionary
approach to risk management states that if an
action or policy has a suspected risk of causing
harm to the public or to the environment, in the
absence of scientific consensus that the action or
policy is not harmful, the burden of proof that it
is not harmful falls on those taking an action.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_princ
iple
Nano sunscreens
• Two most disputed ingredients in ‘nano’
sunscreens (metallic nanoparticles)
– Titanium dioxide
– Zinc oxide
• Friends of the Earth (FOE) ran a very active
anti-nano sunscreen campaign for years
• The ETC Group was also very critical but
doesn’t seem to have organized specific antinano sunscreen campaigns.
EWG (Environmental Working Group)
• You’d expect them to side with FOE and The ETC Group
– But when it comes to sunscreen, EWG respectfully
disagrees. Our research demonstrates that sunscreens
formulated with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, both of
which are sometimes ground down into nanoparticles for
cosmetic reasons, have the best broad-spectrum
protection and the lowest known risk of sunscreens
currently on the market in the US. The products on FOE's
recommended list may not contain nanoparticles, but
they're also much less effective. They degrade twice as fast
in the sun and provide less protection to begin with,
leaving you with a much higher risk for sunburns and skin
cancer.
EWG (Environmental Working Group)
– FOE is right to raise questions about nanotechnology.
EWG would love to see the development of
sunscreens even better than zinc and titanium
without the use of nano. In the meantime, though,
consumers need to know which products are most
safe and effective overall -- not just which products
might contain nanoparticles.
• http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2007/08/foesnanotech-no-no
2010 comments from Georgia Miller,
executive director FOE
• In your earlier blog you point out that research by Professor Brian
Gulson at Macquarie University and by scientists at Australia’s
CSIRO which shows radio-isotope labelled zinc from sunscreens in
the blood and urine of human volunteers is not yet published. True
enough – also that these researchers are not yet able to say
whether or not the absorbed zinc they detected is in particle or
ionic form. Nonetheless, the results do show that zinc in sunscreens
does not simply remain on the outer layers of dead skin cells, as
some have claimed. Many questions remain: the one clear answer
is that more research is required. ...
• You ask for a ‘worst case scenario’. One worst case scenario is the
accelerated development of skin cancer in people using nanosunscreens, despite their wearing sunscreens for sun protection. ...
• Dr. Andrew Maynard’s 2020 Science blog
Researcher’s response to Georgia
Miller/FOE
• Brian Gulson – lead researcher in the Australian sunscreen
study cited by Georgia above – asked me [Andrew
Maynard] to post these clarifications on his study:
• Our study involved two sunscreen formulations containing
zinc (Zn) oxide particles (‘nanoparticles’ and ‘bulk’) highly
enriched with a stable Zn isotope 68Zn. These sunscreens
were applied to the backs of 20 volunteers twice daily over
5 days in an outdoor setting (i.e. with UV exposure). Blood
and urine were collected prior to sunscreen application, at
various times during the trial, and 6 days after the trial
ended. Detection of the 68Zn tracer in blood and urine
indicates penetration through the skin. Some other
observations of relevance to the present discussion are:
1. Previous studies did not measure blood and urine.
Researcher’s response to Georgia
Miller/FOE
• The amounts of the 68Zn tracer detected in blood and urine
were very small (micrograms of Zn) compared with the
normal amount of Zn in blood (milligrams). Even if one
considers other compartments or tissues in the body (e.g.
liver) which can exchange Zn rapidly with plasma and red
blood cells, these potentially larger amounts of tracer
would still be small compared with the total amount of Zn
in the body.
• The small amounts we observed would probably not be
detectable in the other studies using less sensitive
methods. Furthermore, without using an isotope tracer,
they could not distinguish between Zn coming from the
sunscreen and that introduced into the body from diet or
Zn already circulating in the body.
Researcher’s response to Georgia
Miller/FOE
• Very low levels of 68Zn tracer were first detected in
blood following the 4th application of sunscreen, and
~30 hours after the 1st application. This sets a time
frame for measuring dermal penetration by sensitive
methods, and may help with the analysis of other
studies involving fewer applications and/or shorter
detection times following applications.
• The biggest question remaining from our study is that
we don’t know whether the 68Zn we detected in blood
and urine is as ZnO nanoparticles or as soluble Zn.
Researcher’s response to Georgia
Miller/FOE
• The adverse reaction of one subject is of interest.
During the sunscreen-application phase, we noticed a
skin reaction where sunscreen had been applied, and
at that point we made the decision to apply no more
sunscreen to her; however, we continued to sample
her blood and urine. At the time of this observation,
she told us that her skin commonly reacts to
sunscreens and skin-care products.
•
Read more: http://2020science.org/2010/06/15/justhow-risky-can-nanoparticles-in-sunscreens-be-friendsof-the-earth-respond/#ixzz3Ii4S0ePB
Australia, FOE, and the sunscreens
• 2012: Unintended consequences: Australians
not using sunscreens to avoid nanoparticles?
(http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=5875)
• The Cancer Council of Australia reports that
we have one of the highest rates of skin
cancer in the world, with over 440,000 people
receiving medical treatment for skin cancers
each year, and over 1,700 people dying of all
types of skin cancer annually.
Australia, FOE, and the sunscreens
• The survey of public attitudes towards
sunscreens with nanoparticles, commissioned
by the Australian Department of Industry,
Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary
Education and conducted last month, showed
that about 17% 13% of people in Australia
were so worried about the issue, they would
rather risk skin cancer by going without
sunscreen than use a product containing
nanoparticles. [emphasis mine]
Australia, FOE, and the sunscreens
• FOE immediately withdrew their anti-nano
sunscreen literature
• Blamed the government for a lack of regulation
• Some recent research suggests that nanoscale
anatase titanium dioxide be avoided (titanium
dioxide can be rutile or anatase) while other
recent research suggests there isn’t much
difference (http://www.frogheart.ca/?p=11280
Oct. 2013)