Social Risk

Privacy

With advancements in nanotechnology promising to provide smaller listening devices, and smaller cameras and, more pressing, the current rise in the use of radio frequency identification chip (RFID) technology, privacy concerns are increasingly a worrisome social risk of nanotechnology. Because nanotechnology holds the promise for nanosized RFID chips capable of producing their own power, the possibilities for one's every action to be monitored, whether by private enterprises or the government, is very real. Equally disconcerting is the fact that such invasion of privacy offers the opportunity for personal information not only to be collected knowingly by the consumer, but also collected by covert means by nonintended entities. Additionally, the type of information collected may exceed the understanding of a willing participant of RFID technology and, therefore, collection of information may be without the consent of the consumer and inherently violative of an individual's expectations of privacy.

As nanotechnology advances, the danger of societal risk from unwanted government intrusion will increase as well. This is no longer a hypothetical concern: for instance, in 2009 the Pentagon demonstrated its “beetle-borg,” a remote-controlled insect carrying a miniature camera that can be used for surveillance purposes. With nanosized cameras and listening devices come fears of an Orwellian dystopia involving an ever-watching Big Brother, fears heightened by the recent controversy surrounding warrantless eavesdropping of persons by the U.S. National Security Agency under the U.S. PATRIOT Act.

Weapons

As with all technological advancements, military use factors into the research and development of nanotechnology, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been among the federal agencies most generously funded for nanotech research in recent years. The fiscal year (FY) 2010 budget request for 2010 was $379 million, a decrease from previous years due to reassignment of some nanotechnology projects to other areas of relevance.

The prospect of nanoweapons raises two dangers. The first danger is the possibility that nanoweapons will [Page 724]act as a destabilizing force, rather than a stabilizing one. Nuclear weapons, while extremely powerful and providing military superiority, acted as a stabilizing force due to various factors, including the probability of complete human annihilation of an all-out nuclear conflict; long-term high costs of use, such as radioactive contamination; indiscriminate destruction; and massive research and development programs which are expensive and difficult to conceal. While nanoweapons also can result in the destruction of the human race, nanoweapons have no long-term costs for use, can implement targeted destruction and can be developed—once the technology is available—far more quickly, cheaply, and covertly than nuclear capabilities. As such, countries may be quicker to use nanoweapons since they do not suffer from the same negative aspects of nuclear technology.

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