WTF? 70.5% of Americans surveyed said they think nanotechnology is morally unacceptable. The results of the survey were about the opposite in Europe with 50.4% of UK residents, 62.7 % of Germans, and 72.1% of the French responding that the technology is morally acceptable. The article theorizes that American religiosity is partly to blame, suggesting that nanotech is lumped in with biology and other sciences seen to be used in the obviously evil pursuit of improving our lot, in part, by creating compounds that don't exist in nature.
Of course, the sample size is small, and who knows how the study was conducted. My personal theory is that the avg. American is f-ing retarded, doesn't know what nanotechnology is, and is more worried about the price of gas than emerging technologies. I'm fairly sure these same moral objectors will use medications and products derived from nanotech as they become available. In fact, they may already be doing so.
Link to Article
On a similar tack, I heard an amusing quote recently about GWB not believing in evolution, but as soon as the bird flu appeared on the scene and posed a threat, he turned to scientists and said, "We need to know how fast this thing is mutating!"
Of course, the sample size is small, and who knows how the study was conducted. My personal theory is that the avg. American is f-ing retarded, doesn't know what nanotechnology is, and is more worried about the price of gas than emerging technologies. I'm fairly sure these same moral objectors will use medications and products derived from nanotech as they become available. In fact, they may already be doing so.
Link to Article
On a similar tack, I heard an amusing quote recently about GWB not believing in evolution, but as soon as the bird flu appeared on the scene and posed a threat, he turned to scientists and said, "We need to know how fast this thing is mutating!"
Why the big difference?
The answer, Scheufele believes, is religion: "The United States is a country where religion plays an important role in peoples' lives. The importance of religion in these different countries that shows up in data set after data set parallels exactly the differences we're seeing in terms of moral views. European countries have a much more secular perspective."
The catch for Americans with strong religious convictions, Scheufele believes, is that nanotechnology, biotechnology and stem cell research are lumped together as means to enhance human qualities. In short, researchers are viewed as "playing God" when they create materials that do not occur in nature, especially where nanotechnology and biotechnology intertwine, says Scheufele.