The most recent installment of the Cetmons Student Lecture Colloquium took place on November 4, 2010 in Discovery Hall on the Tempe Campus. The speaker was Dr. David Guston, professor of political science and co-director of the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes at Arizona State University. He is principal investigator and director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Society at Arizona State University. The title of his talk was “Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies-The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at ASU”.

Dr. Guston discussed some of the difficulties with governance and developing nanotechnology. Government must try to balance respecting the autonomy of the market and the autonomy of science with ethical concerns such as the safety of human subjects and the dual-use problem. One option is to freely allow the development of all nanotechnologies with the expectation that humans will adapt to new elements in their environment. On the other end of the spectrum there are some calls for banning nanotechnology research altogether. However, between adapting and banning are quite a number of other possibilities including licensing, civil liability, insurance, indemnification, testing, regulation, restrictions on age or other criteria (rather than on ability to pay), labeling, and on and on. Exploring nano policy – with nanotechnology as wide open as it is currently – means keeping an open mind about any and all of these governing options.

There were 80 people in attendance at the talk. Most of the audience was comprised of ASU undergraduates, but there were ASU graduate students, law students, and some faculty members as well. Following the talk, the students enjoyed refreshments supplied by the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics while further discussing governance and nanotechnology.

Reported by:   Zachary J. Goldberg, CETMONS Graduate Assistant and philosophy graduate student