Photo by Gordon Berne

Rosalyn Berne, associate professor in the U.Va. Department of Science, Technology and Society

Nanotechnology has entered a new stage. For years, scientists and engineers predicted that the next great leap in technology would occur when we could observe and organize matter at the atomic level. As long as the promise of nanotechnology went unrealized, however, the claims of its proponents remained in the realm of conjecture — and the ethical implications of these claims went unexamined.

The word these researchers used most often to describe nanotechnology was revolutionary, and certainly the applications they envisioned — fantastic new materials, microscopic drug delivery systems and elaborate surveillance networks — supported this choice of words. The report of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) asserted that nanoscale science and technology had the potential "to profoundly change our economy, to improve our standard of living and to bring about the next industrial revolution."

Now that the first fruits of nanotechnology are finding their way to the marketplace, we owe it to ourselves to take these claims seriously. If we are indeed gaining the power to impose sweeping changes on the human experience, then we have a moral obligation to do so in ways that reflect humanitarian and earth-respecting values.

This is a discussion in which we all can participate, but it is particularly important that researchers who are driving discovery in nanotechnology play a leading role. As scientists and engineers deeply immersed in discovery, we are positioned to most fully appreciate the potential of the technology we create for good and for ill. And as best we can, we have the responsibility to be conscientious in the processes of study and creation.

There are many forces that are aligned against this sort of deliberate ethical examination and that tempt researchers to pursue their goals regardless of potential consequences. Nonetheless, as researchers, we can and should make a choice to think about the values that are important to us and to deliberately and conscientiously examine the technology we create in light of them. And it is of paramount importance that we, as educators, convey the necessity of ethical self-examination to our students. After all, it will fall to their generation to move beyond the steps that we have taken to realize the full potential of the nanoscale revolution.

It is, no doubt, naïve to think that such a process of reflection will absolutely guarantee that the revolutionary changes wrought by nanotechnology will better society. On the other hand, the chances that we will all benefit from nanotechnology are much improved when researchers consider their work in light of their foundest hopes and dreams for society.