Nanotechnologie als Chiffre der Zukunft

Nanotechnology and the idea of Converging Technologies both have considerably influenced the scientific and societal thinking about future. Debates on the future of the nature of humans and on the enhancement of human performance, on the future of technologies and their relations to humans, as well as debates on the future of the sciences are most prominent examples. Such debates are dominated by futuristic, far-ranging visions about technological developments but also about the predicted change of human, individual and collective, conditions and ways of life. Visions of this type are used by all groups involved in the debate, by scientists and engineers, by managers and politicians, by the media and civil society actors, by philosophers and writers – in, however, not always the same meaning and intention. In this way, a new round in the debate about the future of humankind can currently be observed. In this paper the debate on nanotechnology and converging technologies is considered in how the term „future“ is used in these debates: What is claimed to become reality in the future, which arguments are given to support the predictive statements, and where are the limits and shortcomings of these arguments. The paper focuses on epistemological questions behind future expectations, fears and visions emerging in the nanotechnology and converging technologies debate. The main thesis is that future developments are not accessible as future ones, but only as our present images of them.(Used with editor's permission, copyright Akademishche Verlagsgesellischaft, 2006)