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The ethics of NBIC convergence
... Especially in the North American context, this process is supported by a strong "technology-driven" vision, in which the prospect of being able to fully exploit this convergence of technologies to enhance and increase human capabilities is highly pursued. This scenario, not anymore so-futuristic, populated by artificial intelligences and augmented humans brings with it undoubtably unexplored potentials for development, but also urgent ethical questions (Khushf, 2007;Harari, 2017;Russel, 2019). ...
... [8][9][10] This is actually the real era of convergence in science and engineering to save the life health and quality, in which the new expression of NBICA (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Informatics, Cognitive science, and Artificial intelligence) is indeed implying for the emergency of health innovation for the global crises such COVID-19. 11 Precision medicine, which is almost a combination of all aspects of science and engineering, could play a dominant role for personalizing the employed therapeutic and prevention mechanisms for each individual person. 12 Furthermore, it could carefully predict the probable statistics of victims of health crisis in the specified societies to actually create the future plans in such cases. ...
COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019), has been first recognized in China in late 2019 but it has been very soon spread all over the world as a global pandemic crisis. From November 2019 until June 2020, around 6 million people have been recognized to be suffered by COVID-19; some of them died unfortunately, some of them recovered happily, and so many of them are still under treatments. Although it is supposed that COVID-19 has been caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but the available treatments are not still sufficient enough for employing neither therapeutics nor prevention processes. This trend means than the conventional science, research and technology is not sufficient any more for dealing with the crises of nowadays life, as COVID-19 could STOP the regular life of the world. Therefore, COVID-19 is almost a serious warning for emergency health innovation, to find all the required materials as soon as possible in the time of such global crises. So, despite the expertise and specific major of research, let’s think how to deal with the global health crises such as COVID-19 and notice its serious waning of emergency health innovations employing the NBICA convergence approaches.
... Since 2001, a number of other government initiatives [70]- [72], as well as other private initiatives [73]- [75], have spawned, trying to address the technical and economic challenges of this subject in the agenda of their fundamental research programs [76], [77]. Hereafter, some academic groups and nongovernmental organization institutions, even dedicated ones [78]- [81], started to pronounce themselves on the ethics and consequences of converging technologies for human enhancement [82]- [87]. As Ferrari [69] already discussed, it's interesting to note how differently the European Commission (EC) decided to frame this topic compared to the U.S. NSF's original position. ...
Technology is increasingly shaping our social structures and is becoming a driving force in altering human biology. Besides, human activities already proved to have a significant impact on the Earth system which in turn generates complex feedback loops between social and ecological systems. Furthermore, since our species evolved relatively fast from small groups of hunter-gatherers to large and technology-intensive urban agglomerations, it is not a surprise that the major institutions of human society are no longer fit to cope with the present complexity. In this note we draw foundational parallelisms between neurophysiological systems and ICT-enabled social systems, discussing how frameworks rooted in biology and physics could provide heuristic value in the design of evolutionary systems relevant to politics and economics. In this regard we highlight how the governance of emerging technology (i.e. nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science), and the one of climate change both presently confront us with a number of connected challenges. In particular: historically high level of inequality; the coexistence of growing multipolar cultural systems in an unprecedentedly connected world; the unlikely reaching of the institutional agreements required to deviate abnormal trajectories of development. We argue that wise general solutions to such interrelated issues should embed the deep understanding of how to elicit mutual incentives in the socioeconomic subsystems of Earth system in order to jointly concur to a global utility function (e.g. avoiding the reach of planetary boundaries and widespread social unrest). We leave some open questions on how techno-social systems can effectively learn and adapt with respect to our understanding of geopolitical complexity.
... Since 2001, a number of other government initiatives [70]- [72], as well as other private initiatives [73]- [75], have spawned, trying to address the technical and economic challenges of this subject in the agenda of their fundamental research programs [76], [77]. Hereafter, some academic groups and nongovernmental organization institutions, even dedicated ones [78]- [81], started to pronounce themselves on the ethics and consequences of converging technologies for human enhancement [82]- [87]. As Ferrari [69] already discussed, it's interesting to note how differently the European Commission (EC) decided to frame this topic compared to the U.S. NSF's original position. ...
Technology is increasingly shaping our social structures and is becoming a driving force in altering human biology. Besides, human activities already proved to have a significant impact on the Earth system which in turn generates complex feedback loops between social and ecological systems. Furthermore, since our species evolved relatively fast from small groups of hunter-gatherers to large and technology-intensive urban agglomerations, it is not a surprise that the major institutions of human society are no longer fit to cope with the present complexity. In this note we draw foundational parallelisms between neurophysiological systems and ICT-enabled social systems, discussing how frameworks rooted in biology and physics could provide heuristic value in the design of evolutionary systems relevant to politics and economics. In this regard we highlight how the governance of emerging technology (i.e. nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science), and the one of climate change both presently confront us with a number of connected challenges. In particular: historically high level of inequality; the co-existence of growing multipolar cultural systems in an unprecedentedly connected world; the unlikely reaching of the institutional agreements required to deviate abnormal trajectories of development. We argue that wise general solutions to such interrelated issues should embed the deep understanding of how to elicit mutual incentives in the socio-economic subsystems of Earth system in order to jointly concur to a global utility function (e.g. avoiding the reach of planetary boundaries and widespread social unrest). We leave some open questions on how techno-social systems can effectively learn and adapt with respect to our understanding of geopolitical complexity.
... Science has become increasingly complex and cross-disciplinary and non-expert audiences often lack the tools and frameworks necessary to rationally and critically evaluate scientific information. This "revolution" in the nature of science, termed the NBIC convergence (Khushf, 2007), has been occurring at the intersection of many scientific disciplines and is characterized by its rapid pace coupled with abundant ELSI concerns. ...
... This epistemological and methodological openness, interdisciplinarity, and flexibility to integrate theoretical and practical perspectives are methodologically crucial to the ecological and internationally-viable neuroethics herein under investigation.From such considerations, Shook and Giordano propose four guidelines to address the reality and needs of an internationally-relevant neuroethics that are inspired by, and generally aligned with, Beauchamp and Childress' model of Principlism.17 Starting from the four principles (i.e.-beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice), the purview of each are addressed and either accepted or modified, in light of neuroscientific trends in society, so as to offer innovative ethical constructs that are claimed to represent a novel, principled neuroethics that is ecologically grounded and naturalistically supported.Like Nussbaum and others, we want to preserve individual expression in cultural contexts; like Racine, Moreno, and George Khushf36 we want to pragmatically respect neuroscience and ethics working together (see also: ...
... "NBIC Convergence" grew out of a December 3-4, 2001 workshop jointly sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). (For an overview of the initiative and of the ethical and philosophical issues, see the essays in Roco and Bainbridge, 2002;Roco and Montenagno, 2004;and Khushf, 2007). It included leaders in government like former Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (2002), and the Undersecretary of Commerce, Philip Bond (2002Bond ( , 2004. ...
In this essay I consider two kinds of human enhancement technologies. Stage 1 enhancements are discrete, medical enhancements;
they involve a modest augmentation of some specific function or capacity, and have quantifiable harms and benefits that are
amenable to conventional study designs. Examples of these enhancements include psychopharmaceuticals for enhanced cognitive
function, cosmetic surgery, and sports doping. Stage 2 enhancements build upon stage 1, but involve more than a simple quantitative
extension of stage1 capacities. Stage 2 enhancement technologies are multifunctional; have an autocatalatic aspect that leads
to accelerating development; and involve the convergence of multiple kinds of technology and technology platforms. These enhancements
can involve radically new capacities that provide significant advantages to those who obtain them. I illustrate the features
of stage 2 enhancements by discussing a nano-enabled brain-machine interface (BMI) that might arise from the research of Miguel
Nicolelis and Rodolfo Llinas. Stage 2 enhancement technologies undermine the conditions of traditional, post hoc modes of
ethical reflection. The needed up?tream ethical engagement requires a fundamental change in our cultures of research and development,
and for this change, we must bridge the gap between the research cultures of science and engineering, on one side, and the
humanities, law, and policy, on the other.
Objectives
This paper identifies approaches to the responsible development of emerging technologies to secure worker safety and health.
Methods
A retrospective analysis was used to describe the history of the responsible development of worker protection from engineered nanomaterials. Lessons from that history were extended and applied to emerging technologies and illustrated in three examples: advanced manufacturing, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence.
Results
The same principles used to underpin responsible development of nanotechnology can be applied to emerging technologies. Five criterion actions were identified that embody these principles.
Conclusion
Responsible development of emerging technologies requires anticipating hazards and risks and ethical issues attendant to them. Occupational and environment health specialists are often called upon to provide guidance on emerging technologies and the approach described here can serve as a basis for that guidance.
Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) convert internal/neural information into external/functional control and transduce external/functional information into internal/neural activity. Ethical arguments over BMIs have often been connected with their potential impact on human nature and integrity. In that context, they are regarded as a threat to personal identity and autonomy in exchange for improved limb and brain function. BMIs can also be regarded as social resources that enhance the capabilities of both disabled and healthy people. This paper argues that non-invasive BMIs can be morally justifiable within a healthcare context for not only prosthetic use but also as physical enhancers, as exemplified by Robot Suit HAL. For example, BMI prosthesis can help recover physical performance in a paralyzed patient or enable a female family caregiver to lift an elderly relative. A list of suggested central principles, technological requirements, and power output limitations is provided for at least the early applications of prosthetic and enhancement uses of HAL-type BMIs. Keywords：brain-machine interface, prosthetic, enhancement, autonomy １．Introduction Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), also known as brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), convert internal/neural information into external/functional control and transduce external/functional information into internal/neural activity. Rapid developments in this relatively new field have resulted in a wide range of
Uncivil comments following online news articles about issues of science and technology have been shown to lead to biased interpretations of the news content itself. Using an experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey, we provide evidence that cues about comment moderation ‒ even without any change in the comments themselves ‒ have the potential to alleviate this so-called nasty effect. Participants exposed to uncivil comments that appear in a moderated environment were less likely to perceive bias in the news article itself. Importantly, perceptions of bias among respondents exposed to the uncivil, moderated stimulus were comparable to those of respondents who viewed both moderated and unmoderated civil comments. Our results suggest that visible cues about comment moderation are a potentially valuable endeavor for news organizations, especially in an age of declining profit margins.
The task of this chapter is to present and briefly discuss the main ethical implications of current and prospective neural applications of nanotechnology. While the task seems simple, undertaking it is by no means so. In part, this is because there is very little literature specifically focused on the intersection of nano- and neurotechnology. At the time of this chapter’s completion, there appear to be approximately a dozen articles that provide substantial ethical consideration specific to nanotechnology and the brain. While this provides a substantial base from which to evaluate the ethical considerations, the dearth of original research material on nanotechnology and neuroscience makes difficult an original thoroughgoing analysis of the ethical implications of nano and neuro. I have drawn from the larger literatures on ‘neuroethics’ and ‘nanoethics’ to supplement the extant articles on the ethics of nanotechnology and neuroscience.
The subject of this essay is NBIC convergence (nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science convergence). NBIC convergence is a recurring trope that is dominated by the paradigm of integration of the sciences. It is largely influenced by the considerations of social and economic impact, and it assumes positivism in the name of technological progress. The culture of NBIC convergence, including NBIC discourses, is ensconced on the borders between modernity/ postmodernity, ambition/restraint, unity/fragmentation, and rational intellect/creativity. Both the rhetoric of ambition and visionary development, and its responding calls for some level of restraint and caution, make contrasting assumptions that, however unintentionally, further polarize the debate concerning NBIC technologies. Those engaged in producing the culture, including scientists, engineers, and ethicists of convergence, consider the ramifications of these technologies for subjectivity and identity in ways that do not fully account for the diversity of human experience, or the ambiguity of human nature. NBIC convergence, such as artificial intelligence, is a “projection of the normative self, unaware of its own specificity;” in other words, that converging technologies offer negligible insight into human corporeality or experience and, in their theoretical frameworks, are hardly conscious of the necessity of effectively mobilizing the diversity within society and of social existence in bringing about nanotechnology’s “maximum benefit to humanity,” and are part and parcel of creating a “nanoself,” bereft of uniqueness.
Nanotechnology is a set of knowledge, techniques, and practices in studying and exploring new properties of materials that arise when manipulated at the atomic and molecular levels. The technical possibility of organizing and controlling matter at the smallest dimensions and units can result in profound changes in industrial production processes and have significant moral impacts on human relations, organization of the current social order, and even life as a phenomenon. However, moral reflection on nanotechnology has been criticized over the assertion that nanotechnology fails to raise any new ethical issue, for example. The current article discusses the limits of this claim by presenting two aspects that distinguish between nanotechnology and earlier biotechnoscientific advances in terms of their ethical implications: (a) uncertainty as an epistemic characteristic and (b) the threat to the current symbolic character of DNA as the "code of life".
European science policy, as well as the creation of research agendas for converging technologies, functions as a testing ground for a transnational European identity. In light of competing conceptions of European identity formation, the European Com-mission's Sixth Framework Program (2002–2007) adopted an experimental mode. Given that the quest for European identity is already an open-ended experiment, the policy process invites experiments in governance, for example, by developing participatory schemes. Moreover, as European science studies scholars advance the notion of "real experiments" in the laboratory of society, one basis for identity formation among Europeans is to be the very fact that they all partake in "collec-tive experiments" with new technologies. This analysis draws for its central cases on the creation in 2003 / 2004 of a "European vision" for converging technologies and a 2007 report on innovation processes in the "European knowledge society." It thereby highlights also the contribution of historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science and technology to the European quest for identity.
Since there are few disruptive nanotechnological products and processes now, it would seem that ethical and societal deliberations
concern what nanotech-nology may bring in the future. This orientation towards the future is shown to be unnecessary and wholly
inadequate to technoscientific research programs. Since these programs posit that there is something deficient or problematic
about the present that will benefit from a nanotechnological solution, they posit not a future but an alternative world. Since
nanotechnology is primarily a conquest of space, critiques of colonization and globalization may offer the most appropriate
resources for the assessment of this alternative world.
Recent advances in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience open up new vistas for human enhancement. Central to much of this work is the idea of new human-machine interfaces (in general) and new brain-machine interfaces (in particular). But despite the increasing prominence of such ideas, the very idea of such an interface remains surprisingly under-explored. In particular, the notion of human enhancement suggests an image of the embodied and reasoning agent as literally extended or augmented, rather than the more conservative image of a standard (non-enhanced) agent using a tool via some new interface. In this essay, I explore this difference, and attempt to lay out some of the conditions under which the more radical reading (positing brand new integrated agents or systemic wholes) becomes justified. I adduce some empirical evidence suggesting that the radical result is well within our scientific reach. The main reason why this is so has less to do with the advancement of our science (though that certainly helps) than with our native biological plasticity. We humans, I shall try to show, are biologically disposed towards literal (and repeated) episodes of sensory re-calibration, of bodily re-configuration and of mental extension. Such potential for literal and repeated re-configuration is the mark of what I shall call "profoundly embodied agency," contrasting it with a variety of weaker (less philosophically and scientifically interesting) understandings of the nature and importance of embodiment for minds and persons. The article ends by relating the image of profound embodiment to some questions (and fears) concerning converging technologies for improving human performance.
The following pages describe research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation that illustrate how different fields of science and technology can converge in order to increase human potential. Technological convergence involves the unification of the sciences of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information Technology, and new technologies based on Cognitive Science (NBIC). Because it supports research across all major branches of science and technology, including the social and behavioral sciences, the NSF has been a focus of discussions about converging technologies to enhance human capabilities and serve human needs.
The need and use of visual languages in complex situations is outlined.
Our goal is to provide a rough sketch of some of the possible implications of converging technologies for enhancing human performance ((Roco and Bainbridge, 2002)) from both a science and a business perspective. Converging technologies refers to a type of coevolutionary progress that is characterized by rapid advances across multiple areas of technology (nano-bio-info-cogno or NBIC), accelerated by interdisciplinary cross-fertilization as the advances in one area spill over and speed progress in other areas. The rapid, multi-front progress characteristic of converging technologies results in better technological capabilities which are faster and cheaper, and can be broadly applied for many different purposes. In this paper, we specifically explore applications of converging technologies for enhancing human performance, that is, enhancing our human ability to achieve goals both individually and collectively. These applications hold the promise to make people healthier, wealthier, and wiser as well as to make businesses more responsive, resilient, and adaptive.
Presented is the concept of Integrative Technology, the intersection of the precision assembly of matter (nanotechnology), coupled with the functional building blocks of nature (biotechnology), and fused by the network flow of spatiotemporal information (informatics). The power of Integrative Technology is illuminated through an illustrative example; the engineering of nano-sized excitable vesicles with the ability to intrinsically process information. The fusion of the tools of nanotechnology and biotechnology to produce excitable vesicles is described, as is the mechanics of information flow that ultimately lead to the manifestations of emergent higher-order behavior. Finally, the potential of using systems engineered and produced from nanoscale components to create complex systems and materials that manifest embedded functional behavior is discussed.
This brief presentation places the challenges of nanotechnology in a political, social, and economic context.
If such a thing as nanoethics is possible, it can only develop by confronting the great questions of moral philosophy, thus avoiding the pitfalls so common to regional ethics. We identify and analyze some of these pitfalls: the restriction of ethics to prudence understood as rational risk management; the reduction of ethics to cost/benefit analysis; the confusion of technique with technology and of human nature with the human condition. Once these points have been clarified, it is possible to take up some weighty philosophical and metaphysical questions which are not new, but which need to be raised anew with respect to nanotechnologies: the artificialization of nature; the question of limits; the role of religion; the finiteness of the human condition as something with a beginning and an end; the relationship between knowledge and know-how; the foundations of ethics.
This article offers a contrast between European and US-American approaches to the convergence of enabling technologies and
to associated issues. It identifies an apparently paradoxical situation in which regional differences produce conflicting
claims to universality, each telling us what can and will happen to the benefit of humanity. Those who might mediate and negotiate
these competing claims are themselves entangled in the various positions. A possible solution is offered, namely a universalizable
strategy that aims to disentangle premature claims to unity and universality as in the case of the greater “efficiency” of
nanomedicine. This is the strategy by which Science and Technologies Studies (STS) can analytically tease apart what it has
helped produce and sustain in the first place. The virtues and limits of this strategy are briefly presented, deliberation
and decision-making under conditions of productive disillusionment recommended.
The rapid fertility decline in most advanced industrial nations, coupled with secularization and the disintegration of the family, is a sign that Western Civilization is beginning to collapse, even while radical religious movements pose challenges to Western dominance. Under such dire circumstances, it is pointless to be cautious about developing new Converging Technologies. Historical events are undermining the entire basis of ethical decision-making, so it is necessary to seek a new basis for ethics in the intellectual unification of science and the power to do good inherent in the related technological convergence. This article considers the uneasy relations between science and religion, in the context of fertility decline, and the prospects for developing a new and self-sustaining civilization based in a broad convergence of science and technology, coalescing around a core of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive technologies. It concludes with the suggestion that the new civilization should become interstellar.