Encyclopedia of Globalization

Encyclopedia of Globalization

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Nanotechnology

At the end of the 20th century, nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the atomic level, made the leap from science fiction to science reality. As governments and industry around the world begin focusing on nanoscience—and especially its anticipated economic benefits—the need to consider the links between nanotechnology and globalization grows. In this vein, this article examines the convergence of nanotechnology with other technologies, the creation of a nano divide, intellectual property rights, multinational corporations, impacts on trade, and enhanced levels of surveillance (known as nano-panopticism).

The word “nano” comes from the Greek nannos, or “dwarf.” One nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or approximately ten atoms of hydrogen in width. To give more tangible examples, a human red blood cell has a diameter of 800 nanometers, while the average height of a human being is 1.7 billion nanometers.

Through a comprehensive study of phenomena at the nanoscale, scientists are exploring ways to gain greater control over matter. Nanotechnology enables scientists to manipulate organic and inorganic matter on an atom-by-atom or molecule-by-molecule basis. Nanoscience represents a revolution in constructing devices with atomic precision. Just as computers analyze and distribute data in binary format (represented in 0s and 1s), nanotechnology involves constructing new material (both organic and inorganic) by treating atoms and molecules as building blocks.

Nanoscience is not just another step toward miniaturization. It represents a convergence of quantum physics, molecular biology, computer science, chemistry, and engineering. For instance, desktop computers could one day be replaced by computers the size of postage stamps. New innovations arising from nanoscience are likely to be achieved as control over atomic and molecular assembly improves. Although nanotechnology is in its infancy, the principles behind nanoscience are becoming more broadly understood and accepted.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are expected to revolutionize science and society. Applications of these fields have the potential to transform medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, manufacturing, materials science, aerospace, information technology, and telecommunications, to name just a few. In medicine, nanotechnology is expected to improve surgery and drug delivery by miniaturizing probes that can enter the human body and perform tasks like destroying cancerous tumors. In biotechnology, nanotechnology may be used to create novel organisms through the manipulation of DNA. In aerospace engineering, space travel may benefit from new nano-based coatings on spacecraft that have improved heat-shielding properties. Nanotechnologies are diverse and their effects manifold. It is likely that several decades will pass before these effects are fully felt. As described in The Social and Economic Challenges of Nanotechnology (2003), nanotechnology will coexist with established technologies rather than suddenly replace them, and its impacts will be felt in multiple ways depending on how other technologies converge and align themselves around it.

Since nanotechnology is such a powerful technology, it is critical to understand, and ideally shape, the field before it becomes too difficult to manage. However, the social impacts of nanotechnology, including its relationship to globalization, are poorly understood. Since few social scientists have begun to examine the possible impacts of nanotechnology on society, their insights are often based on experience with earlier technologies like nuclear energy, information technology, and biotechnology. The experience with earlier transformative technologies suggests the need to devise better mechanisms for engaging the public in discussion, to develop sounder regulation and more transparent approaches for handling scientific uncertainty, and to nurture an appreciation for the impacts of technology on a global scale.

One important impact linked to globalization is that nanotechnology may reinforce, and magnify, existing disparities between the rich and poor. Differential rates of diffusion of these technologies may create a “nano divide.” Like the digital divide that has accompanied the introduction of new information and communication technologies, it is likely that there will be nano have and nano have not countries. Some proponents of nanotechnology argue that scientific advances in this field will bring the end of material scarcity, for example, by making raw materials such as wood and oil obsolete, due to the ability to synthesize similar materials. But more critical thinkers suggest that nanotechnology will accelerate the trend toward corporate concentration of power and monopoly formation, because research on nanotechnology is too expensive and complex for small organizations to conduct.

Innovations derived from nanoscience will likely generate intense international competition for patents and a drive to harmonize intellectual property rights across countries. Nanotechnology is emerging into an already evolving global patent landscape where multinational corporations are attempting to own downstream access rights to enabling technologies, as occurred with some advances in biotechnology. For example, many of the early genetically modified plants relied upon a gene transfer method that was licensed exclusively to Ciba-Geigy (now Syngenta). As a result, an important “tool kit” for research in the public sector came under the control of a multinational corporation. Since research in nanoscience is expensive, global in scope, and requires a high degree of cooperation between universities, governments, and industry, questions about the private-public ownership of intellectual property need to be addressed. Also, these stronger alliances between universities, governments, and industry threaten to redefine the priorities of university-based research, to weaken the regulatory role of the state, and to subsidize industry-based initiatives like never before.

Like biotechnology, nanotechnology will probably be controlled by a small number of multinational corporations. On the one hand, large biotechnology and life science corporations will likely lead the so-called wet nanotechnology revolution. Wet nanotechnology refers to the use of nanotechnology in biological systems and involves developing customized pharmaceuticals, designer genes, and other nano-medical applications. On the other hand, large electronics corporations will probably capitalize on dry nanotechnology; advances in dry nanotechnology use nano-based coatings, polymers, powders and techniques to minimize friction, to produce “smart” materials and to reduce the size of electronic components. With this concentration of control over nanotechnology, multinational corporations will continue to play a strong role in shaping global rules for trade, monetary and fiscal policies, intellectual property rights, and social policies.

Nanotechnology may also stimulate a return of mercantilism (nano-mercantilism). In contrast to liberal capitalism, mercantilism emphasizes economic self-sufficiency, a favorable balance of trade, captive markets and colonial relations, and a stronger role for governments in shaping social policies that are in the interest of merchants and producers. The development of universal assembler technology, which involves coordinating nano-sized mechanical or biological devices to assemble objects from the bottom up, may usher in a new kind of industrial revolution where existing manufacturing processes will be replaced, the concept of human labor reconsidered, and the current basis of the economy and global trade transformed. In Engines of Creation (1987) Eric Drexler writes that a universal assembler could be a positioning device with different tools and tips that place, mill, and add reactants, and allow for the assembly of nanoscale components into larger structures. Paradoxically, assembler era nanotechnology may change our current understanding of globalization in significant ways. Countries with assembler technology may be able to decouple themselves from certain kinds of international trade and commerce by “growing” their own products from substrates like readily available carbon and silicon.

Nanotechnology is stimulating significant advances in surveillance and monitoring technology and may lead to what might be called nano-panopticism. By facilitating the miniaturization of remote camera technology, nanotechnology makes it possible to place undetectable video cameras, microphones, and transmitters anywhere one wishes. A comprehensive monitoring of individuals becomes possible, encompassing credit ratings, financial transactions, health records, police files, consumption patterns, and so on. More importantly, increasingly sophisticated data-processing technology enables the effective sorting of large amounts of information and provides the ability to track individuals as they navigate their way through the Internet. Nanotechnology magnifies these effects by increasing the scope and scale of surveillance, and could allow globally coordinated actors to monitor social behavior on a worldwide basis.

Clearly, nanotechnology has profound political impacts on globalization. It could privilege states of the developed world and their national security interests. It looks likely to favor large multinational corporations. And it favors agents of social control who value enhanced surveillance and monitoring capabilities. Since nanotechnology has the potential to transform so much in the course of future globalization, it is vital to consider both its benefits and its risks.

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