ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies and analyses competing and contradictory claims made by supporters of nanotechnology. Enthusiasts for nanotechnology make one set of claims when they want to advertise and promote this technology and another, often directly opposed, set of claims when sceptics about the technology question their enthusiasm. Working out which of the very different claims made about nanotechnology are true is essential if democratic societies are to be able to make informed decisions about it. It may be that nanotechnology raises no distinctive, ethical, political, or environmental issues. However, it is hard to tell when the debate is plagued by constant equivocation between very different claims by those in favour of nanotechnology. When researchers and industry spokespeople wish to advertise their products and/or lobby the government for funding, they wax lyrical about the wonders of nanotechnology. Scarcely a week goes by that we do not hear something reported about the promise of nanotechnology.
