Between Promise, Fear and Disillusion: Two Decades of Public Engagement Around Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology emerged as a subj ect of public interest and concern towards the end of the 1990”s. A couple of decades on, it's worth looking back at the way the public discussion of the subject has evolved. On the one hand we had the transformational visions associated with the transhumanist movement, together with some extravagant promises of new industries and medical breakthroughs. The flipside of these were worries about profound societal changes for the worse, and, less dramatically, about the potential for environmental and health impacts from the release of nanoparticles. Since then we”ve seen some real achievements in the field, both scientific and technological, but also a growing sense of disillusion with technological progress, associated with slowing economic growth in the developed world. What should we learn from this experience? What's the right balance between emphasising the potential of emerging technologies and cautioning against over-optimistic claims?