‘All things weird and scary’: Nanotechnology, theology and cultural resources

Abstract

Nanotechnology is widely suggested to be fast becoming a defining technology of the twenty-first century. This 'science of the very small' has applications in areas from medicine to materials, and is predicted to have profound effects on social life. In this paper, we draw on a study of lay people's reflections on the ethics of nanotechnologies to focus on the talk of one group of participants, from a UK church. While we identify key themes which are common across all participants, including nanotechnology as a threat to the human, the importance of individual autonomy, and distrust of the large-scale drivers behind the technology, we argue that the church-going group have a specific set of cultural resources with which to articulate responses to these. Using a language of spirituality and relationality these participants are able to express shared notions of what nanotechnology threatens (and promises), and can therefore be seen as exemplary of lay negotiations of these issues.

Engaging Narratives and the Limits of Lay Ethics: Introduction

“…With these points in mind, the DEEPEN research paid close attention not simply to the structure of conversation that took place among citizens, but also to the specific cultural dynamics and political economy through which new and different concerns were brought to light, alongside the repertoire of stories and cultural resources that gave rise to these concerns. Thus, while we are not attributing to the experience of "ordinary citizens" privileged position and insight, 9 we would nevertheless maintain that the DEEPEN process, as set out by Sarah Davies and Phil Macnaghten below, helped articulate the shared and culturally-specific narratives that shape and structure latent public concern, and thus the reasons why particular concerns cannot be reduced simply to a list (see also [3]). These points are especially relevant for the purposes of governance that has to take account of citizens' attitudes.…”

“…Here, the plan of action looked like this: after engaging selected groups of citizens in the UK and Portugal, a close reading of their communal reflections about nanotechnology would reveal themes which could be taken up by ethicists and social theorists. Rather than involving rote considerations of-for 3 For more detail see www.geography.dur.ac.uk/projects/deepen/, example-privacy or bodily harm, the emergent issues raised in lay discussion would prove their relevance in two ways. First, to the extent that they arose directly in response to presentations about nanotechnologies in pertinent real-world contexts, they are certifiably germane without needing to be specific (in the sense of applying only to nanotechnologies and nothing else).…”

“…3 What brought these diverse partners together was a vague dissatisfaction with the process institutionally cast as the "responsible development of nanoscience and nanotechnologies" and, in particular, with the framing of the debate and the roles assigned to social scientists and philosophers in the process. In particular, we criticized the notion: (1) that the motivation to engage stakeholders and lay publics should be primarily that of creating a climate of trust and acceptance; (2) that the interests of publics should be reduced to questions of risks and benefits; and (3) that public engagement methodologies should be seen as a more or less sophisticated form of opinion research.…”

Seven Religious Reactions to Nanotechnology

“…( [16]: 13). But in the case of nanotechnology, he said, "Muslim scholarship has yet to respond in any significant fashion" ( [16]:15).…”

The Narratology of Lay Ethics

“…It is a remarkable feature of the DEEPEN inquiry into lay ethics that it found out that "ultimately, many people thought that disaster of some kind-whether environmental, social, or moral-was inevitable" (see [16]), and that lay people were led "to predict that nanotechnology would inevitably end in tragedy. For this reason all of our performances-involving lay people acting out collectively the social implications of nanotechnology-were tragic in form."…”