Foresight Institute

The Foresight Institute was founded in 1986 by K. Eric Drexler and Christine Peterson and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the development of nanotechnology. The organization has undergone a slight change in mission since its inception. Originally involved in attempting to promote awareness of nanotechnology it now is principally involved in public policy and research efforts to develop and promote specific nanotechnologies. The Institute's focus can be broken down into three principle areas: energy, security, and human enhancement. Foresight's focus on nanotechnology is, in part, an artifact of Drexler's founding role in the field of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology's assumed facilitative role in developing each of the other three convergent technologies—biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science—is the remaining factor in driving Foresight's focus. The Institute is funded through a mixture of corporate sponsorship, philanthropic grants, and private membership dues and donations. The Foresight Institute began as an effort to educate the public and policy makers about nanotechnology's possibilities and, ostensibly, its dangers. This aspect of Foresight's work was critical in the early stages of nanotechnology's development as a field of research for the same reason such a public relations effort would have been immensely valuable to Monsanto as it began to develop and introduce genetically modified crops and food products.

This planetary gear was designed by K. Eric Drexler, scaled down to the molecular size range (http://www.imm.org).

Public backlash based on a lack of knowledge and consultation and the seizure of narrative by issue-specific advocacy groups crippled the effort to use these products to ease the crisis of world hunger just as these technologies were reaching their maturity and have delayed the rollout of products that would have dramatically increased crop yields in places where such an increase in food production would be needed most. Further, the critical regulatory infrastructure necessary to mitigate many of the potential risks—real risks rather than those propagated by proponents of the “Frankenfood” [Page 254]mythology—has been late in coming and its development has been retarded by a forced focus on unrealistic hazards. It is likely the case that avoiding a similar outcome for nanotechnology was much on the minds of Drexler and Peterson when they founded the Foresight Institute and tasked it with increasing public awareness and knowledge of nanotechnology.

In the ensuing decades the results from the public relations work of organizations like Foresight have been mixed. Recent survey data indicate that public awareness of nanotechnology and its benefits and risks remains dismally low. On the other hand, the awareness of policy makers has been raised and this has resulted in the passage of significant funding and regulatory legislation with regard to nanotechnology. In his 2001 budget, President Bill Clinton made nanotechnology funding a federal initiative and the National Nanotechnology Initiative was the result.

This initiative has radically increased both the coordination and level of funding for nanotechnology research and development in the ensuing years. In addition, it has resulted in the creation of a number of institutes—such as the Center for Nanotechnology in Society—dedicated to studying the risks and social implications of nanotechnology and its concomitant research fields. With a federally funded network of social impact research institutes in place it seems natural for the Foresight Institute to have shifted their focus from awareness to advocacy, which they have, in fact, done.

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