Emerging Technologies

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Soc iet al impac t of n a n otechnology.
The key indicator Societal impact anal yses w hether the product under rev iew
has a significant impact on a social l y rel ev ant area. Th is observ ation primaril y
focuses on those aspects that can be attributed to the use of nanomaterials
and nanotechnologies as an “enabling technol ogy”.
Beyond the toxicity risks to human heal th and the env ironment
w hich are associated w ith first -generation nanomaterials,
nanotechnology has broader societal impact and poses broader
social chal lenges. Strong research and decision-making shoul d be
conducted in order to ensure technol ogy dev elopment meets
social objectiv e s. Al so, it is suggested by the organizations in civ il
society that technol ogy assessment and gov ernance shoul d also
inv olve public participation .
Nanotechnologies may prov ide new sol utions for the mil l ions of
peopl e in dev eloping countries w ho l ack access to basic serv ices,
such as safe w ater, rel iable energy, heal th care, and education.
Some of the adv antages of nanotechnology incl ude production
using l ittl e l abour, l and, or maintenance, high productiv ity, low
cost, and modest requirements for materials and energy. However,
concerns are frequently raised that the cl aimed benefits of
nanotechnology w il l not be ev enly distributed, and that any
benefits (incl uding technical and/or economic) associated w ith
nanotechnology w ill onl y reach affl uent nations.
Longer-term concerns centre on the impact that new technologies
w il l hav e for society at l arge, as common man w il l become more
and more dependent on them and w hether these coul d possibly
l ead to either a post-scarcity economy, or al ternativ ely w orsen the
w ealth gap betw een dev eloped and dev eloping nations.
The effects of nanotechnology on the society as a w hol e, on human
heal th and the env ironment, on trade, on security, on food systems
and ev en on the definition of " human being", hav e not yet been
characterized or p ol iticised.