What is Nanotechnology: New Properties of Words as Territories in a Cross-Disciplinary, Cross Border Flow

Abstract

The cultural impacts of tools and technologies have always been of great interest to anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and developmental psychologists. Humans have a long history of inventing and using tools, both material and symbolic, and these have influenced the development of our societies in crucial ways, both cognitively and in terms of the specialization of social roles and relationships. Perhaps never before have technological innovations emerged at the rapid rate we see today. This rate of technological change has already brought major alterations in daily activities, work and family life, knowledge production and knowledge sharing. The emergence of nanotechnologies, for example, are challenging social scientists, including anthropologists, to synthesize new ways of studying and understanding human societies. Social scientists are being asked to respond to questions from natural scientists and the "general public" about how best to continue to innovate while ensuring public welfare, and how to minimize unintended negative consequences of nanotechnologies. In an era of post-industrial environmental crises and hard won insights about the complexities of generalizing about human cultures, many citizens and scientists are speaking to the issues of relationships between society and technology. The 2005 Session on Nanotechnology in Society, held at the Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting was a pioneering effort to involve anthropologists in this challenge, and to foster new awareness. The ideas presented here have been shaped by that discussion and by our interest in how culture and particularly language influence the adoption of new technologies.