Nanotechnology : Ethical and Social Implications

This book spans the full range of nanotech topics. It focuses on how advances in science and the convergence of multiple technological disciplines in nanotechnology impact society at individual, community, national, and international levels. Exploring this technology’s positive and negative aspects in the face of today’s complex social issues, the author addresses how it can benefit society and the demands of new skill sets in the workforce. Written using an interactive format, the book employs case studies, scenarios, and Web exercises to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills, and to enhance stakeholders’ awareness of the challenges posed by nanotechnology.

Advances in nanotechnology are transforming the ways of creating materials and products, leading society to the threshold of a second industrial revolution. However, future opportunities will depend significantly on how nanotechnology stakeholders deal with the short-term and long-term benefits, limitations, uncertainties and risks of nanotechnology. They will be tasked with navigating a variety of new social and ethical challenges associated with areas such as privacy, the environment, energy, population, genetics, agriculture, food, and security.

Unique in its depth, breadth, and variety of viewpoints, Nanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications stimulates, inspires, and builds awareness of nanotechnology’s impact on society. Spanning the immense range of disciplines at work in nanotechnology, the book’s selection of chapters focuses on how advances in science, and the convergence of multiple technologies, will impact society at individual, community, national, and international levels.

The book focuses on raising the awareness of nanotechnology stakeholders, which includes undergraduate and graduate students; educators in sciences, engineering, business, and public policy; engineers; business and finance professionals; and policymakers. It also addresses the demands on the future workforce to learn new skill sets.

The book uses an interactive format—which includes case studies, scenarios, and Web exercises—to promote critical thinking and problem solving skills. Content includes numerous tables, statistics, and figures to supplement and enhance the topics covered in each chapter. The result is a must-read for anyone seeking either a technical or nontechnical understanding of the societal impact of nanotechnology.