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Converging Technologies and Human Destiny *

Author: William Sims Bainbridge a
Affiliation:   a National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia, USA
DOI: 10.1080/03605310701396968
Publication Frequency: 6 issues per year
Published in: journal Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Volume 32, Issue 3 May 2007 , pages 197 - 216
Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)
You have: FREE ACCESS FREE ACCESS

The circumstances under which this title is published have changed:

Reason for change: Changed Publisher
Now published by: Oxford University Press
Date of change: 2008



Abstract

The rapid fertility decline in most advanced industrial nations, coupled with secularization and the disintegration of the family, is a sign that Western Civilization is beginning to collapse, even while radical religious movements pose challenges to Western dominance. Under such dire circumstances, it is pointless to be cautious about developing new Converging Technologies. Historical events are undermining the entire basis of ethical decision-making, so it is necessary to seek a new basis for ethics in the intellectual unification of science and the power to do good inherent in the related technological convergence. This article considers the uneasy relations between science and religion, in the context of fertility decline, and the prospects for developing a new and self-sustaining civilization based in a broad convergence of science and technology, coalescing around a core of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive technologies. It concludes with the suggestion that the new civilization should become interstellar.
*The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily represent the views of the National Science Foundation.
Keywords: nanotechnology; biotechnology; information technology; cognitive science; converging technologies; ethics; religion
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