Ethics and technology "in the making" : an essay on the challenge of nanoethics

Using the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act that calls for examination of societal and ethical issues as a starting point, this essay seeks to understand how nanoethics can play a role in nanotechnology development. Focusing on the challenges of examining the ethical issues of an emerging technology, the author broadly outlines some of the main ideas expressed in the literature of science and technology studies, and uses it to show now nanoethics can play a role in nanotechnology development. Finally, the author lays out some of the potentials and pitfalls of nanoethics, including the importance of public engagement in identifying and ethical issues and finding resolution, the danger of nano-ethics research being co-opted by interest groups, and the possibility that nanotechnology may not turn out to be the revolutionary technology so many have claimed it to be.