Paper short abstract:

Nanotechnology opens up a revolutionary new cosmology envisioning a both dystrophic and utopian future, in which cognition (and reason) is shared by humans, machines, chemical, physical and biological matter alike. This new cosmology challenges old moralities, conceptions of humanity, and existential issues of human mortality and being.

Paper long abstract:

Offering an intricate bundle of future promises, multifarious benefits and potential hazards, nanotechnology presents a veritable challenge to consumers, citizens, policy makers, regulators and industry. One basis for nanotechnology is the capacity of particles at nano scale (1 -9m) to change their (normal) physical (mechanical, optical, magnetic, electronic and chemical) properties and behaviour, manifesting new and surprising modes of matter. Technological creations include ultra-strong and ultra-light materials, self-cleaning surfaces, high-efficient energy provisioning, and "intelligent" drugs that can detect and disarm cancer cells. This contribution explores "Intelligent Nano" as a socio-techno-scientific and symbolic field organized around applications of nanotechnology driven by the attribution of cognitive faculties to physical/chemical/biological matter. A Google search on the expression "Intelligent Nano" is telling of R&D initiatives in biotechnology, biomedicine, synthetic biology, sensor technology, robotics, AI, computer science, material sciences and a myriad of interfaces between such areas. Cognitive capacities comprise thought processes, information storage, retrieval and use, language, speech, feed-back and even decision making. Since medieval times, the faculty of reason, i.e. cognitive powers of analytical and intellectual ability together with moral judgment, has in the West been understood as a unique and defining characteristic of human being. Nanotechnology opens up a revolutionary new cosmology envisioning an at the same time dystrophic and utopian future, in which cognition (and reason) is shared by humans, machines, chemical, physical and biological matter alike. This new cosmology challenges old moralities, conceptions of humanity, and existential issues of human mortality and being.