Earth & Sky

Expert says nanotech will bring us 'a more transparent world'

Christine Patterson of the Foresight Nanotech Institute said that we can expect a more "transparent" world in the future because of nanotechnology's increasing ability to detect and collect chemical information. Read the Earth & Sky interview with Christine Peterson. (Sascha Assbach)

Christine Peterson is Vice President for Public Policy at the Foresight Nanotech Institute. Earth & Sky asked her how nanotechnology — the emerging science of the invisibly small — might change society.

Peterson said that, as we look ahead, we can expect to live in a more transparent world. That’s because nanotechnology will let some people collect a new dimension of information about other people. Right now, Peterson said, what’s collected is mostly video information. But nanotechnology will produce new sensors that can analyze chemical signals in our environment.

And of course, we as individuals send off chemical signals – signals that nano sensors will be able to identify – what you ate for breakfast, whether you just smoked a cigarette, or what’s in your DNA. The analysis of these vast amounts of chemical data requires improved computers, and improved computation is another of the applications of nanotechnology.

Still, Peterson added, the technological trend toward better collection, storing and sharing of information about people has been going on for decades, well before nanotech. And it’s not going to stop. She said, “It’s something that some of us are going to take a while to get used to.”

When we look at a future where much, much more can be known about individuals, Peterson said, we’ll need to think about what happens with the data that’s picked up by nanotechnology sensors.

Our thanks to the National Science Foundation.

Written by Eleanor Imster