Nano technology risks?

[murulidhara]

Nano technology is considered as future technology and lot of encouragement is given.

 

There is no doubt that nano technology has benefits. and it can be applied in various fields like food, construction, medicine, fertilizers, cosmetics etc.

 

I feel there are many risks involved, for example minute nano particles can entre cells. They can enter lungs.

 

Does nanotechnology make harms than advantages?

[immortal]

Nano technology is certainly the next future technology and it would take sometime to create a nano robot which has better communications with other robots so that they can do complex things by working in groups.

Every technology has a risk factor involved in it. In fact the game of evolution is full of risks and those organisms which create better strategies or create better designs(i.e better technology) go on to win the game.

 

Minute particles will often enter lungs but we have macrophages to tackle them and just because these particles enter lungs it does'nt mean they will cause diseases. However nano technology could be used to create nano weapons which can destroy your enemy.

[swansont]

You'll have to better define what you mean by nanotechnology. Nanofabrication has been around for decades, so it's not a new thing. Your computer's processor and memory were built using nanofabrication techniques.

[Edtharan]

Nano technology is certainly the next future technology and it would take sometime to create a nano robot which has better communications with other robots so that they can do complex things by working in groups.

I think the Grey goo scenario is over-hyped. The main problem I see is: What is powering all these nano robots? They might use solar, but the big problem with that is the nanorobots would not have a very long "battery" life. If you at the nano scale, there is only so much enegy you can store.

 

I think most nano technology will have to be permenemtly attached to some kind of power system external to the "nanobot", or have a power system that is constantly available to them (whatever form that ends up taking).

 

Minute particles will often enter lungs but we have macrophages to tackle them and just because these particles enter lungs it does'nt mean they will cause diseases. However nano technology could be used to create nano weapons which can destroy your enemy.

I think the real danger from Nonotechnology, is their toxicity. They are finding that some materials which are pretty much harmless to us in marcosizes can be toxic to us when made into a nanoscale product.

 

Nanofabrication has been around for decades, so it's not a new thing.

Yes, we have been manufacturing at the nano scale for a while now. But I think murulidhara ment manufacturing and devices created with nano materials (but again, we have been useing these for a little while now too).

[Klaynos]

The read-write head on your hard drive is a nanodevice, and the magnetic grains on the platters are all nanoparticles...

 

I think a definition of what you mean by nanotechnology is really required :s

[John Cuthber]

There have been toxic nanoparticles since the first forest fire- probably since the first volcano.

We don't seem to be dead yet.

Not grounds for complacency but certainly an argument against panic.

[Reaper]

I think the Grey goo scenario is over-hyped. The main problem I see is: What is powering all these nano robots? They might use solar, but the big problem with that is the nanorobots would not have a very long "battery" life. If you at the nano scale, there is only so much enegy you can store.

 

I think most nano technology will have to be permenemtly attached to some kind of power system external to the "nanobot", or have a power system that is constantly available to them (whatever form that ends up taking).

 

Not really. At nano-scale sizes it is much easier to build power systems that are both hugely efficient and can last a much longer time. It is also possible to create nanobots that can act very much like living organisms too.

 

The gray-goo scenario comes much more from programming fears than from the actual bots themselves. Of course, this would assume that the nano-bots would actually be that intelligent, and I don't think that would be possible.

[iNow]

With every invention and adavancement comes a potential risk. Burying one's head in the sand or trying to stop the tsunami won't effect change. Educate people, and in the end we'll see if that education paid off or not.

[Mr Skeptic]

I'm a nanotechnological robot. I'm an assemblage of smaller, independent, self-replicating units that join together to pool resources and are collectively intelligent. Due to my nanotechnolgical construction, I am indistinguishable from a regular human. My goal is to join together with others like me to become the most powerful creatures on earth. You could consider that a risk.