Nanotech Ethics
The opening event will be a panel discussion of Michael Crichtons recent novel "Prey". The conference also features a wide range of papers and discussions. Invited speakers include sociologist Hans Glimell of Goeteborg University in Sweden and ethicist Emmanuelle Boubour of Nobel laureate Richard Smalleys research group at Rice University.
The conference participants will explore questions such as "Does nanoscale research describe and explain nature or transform it?", "What are the potential military applications of nanoscale research?", "What is the difference between an interdisciplinary nanoscience and the traditional sciences?" and "Does nanotechnology require a wholly new ethics?"
Part two of the conference will take place in Darmstadt, Germany, in October 2003.