ABSTRACT

In an era of rapid technological and social innovation, those who are typically outside the development of these innovations—the public—confront a flood of new technologies with many societal consequences, few of which can be anticipated much in advance. Through individual choices and social processes conditioned by culture, through market forces, and through the actions of the state, the public absorbs or occasionally rejects new technologies. Over the last two decades, much of the attention to social effects of innovation has focused on technologies of information and communication, which clearly define many aspects of the contemporary period. However, other technologies, especially those broadly termed “nanotechnology,” also present important possibilities for social change. Nanotechnology is less deeply diffused into daily life, and far less salient publicly, but it has the potential for lasting consequences. Nanotechnologies present the public with potentially novel issues of risk and uncertainty, combined with disparate benefits for many groups of citizens. They have already been the target of a considerable investment of public funds.