[extropy-chat] Three-quarters of N. American's support stem cell research

[Chris Phoenix]

devon fowler <dfowler282004 at yahoo.com> wrote:
  [in response to Chris Phoenix <cphoenix at CRNano.org>]
 >  I'm assuming you've already answered these questions:
 > -yes research can and is being slowed down
 > -and there is and will be a substantial effect on
 > develpment.  Correct me if my guesstimates are
 > wrong...

That would be my guess.  But there's a lot I don't know about how 
research happens, having never been a paid academic researcher. 
Information and insights will help.

Also, if my guess is right, how come I was the first person to point it 
out, after days of focusing on venture capital as the main issue?

 >> ObNanotech: Research careers in molecular
 >> manufacturing are also being
 >> energetically discouraged in the U.S.
 >
 > Why is this happening?  I'd be curious to know is it
 > due to typical shock of the unknown?  Or just
 > government or private interests being nasty due to
 > power games or the like?

I think there are several reasons.

1) It's hard to grasp molecular manufacturing.  Engineering from the 
molecules on up (as opposed to biology)... automated general purpose 
manufacturing, with its counterintuitive cost implications... 
ridiculous-sounding performance projections (shrinking computers and 
actuators by eight orders of magnitude)...

2) MM is engineering, not science, but it sounds like science so the 
scientists have been commenting on it.  And it's outside their field, so 
they don't understand it.  Combine this with reason 1, and a lot of 
scientists assume that it's pseudoscience--so they figure they have a 
right and an obligation to debunk it.

3) The gray goo issue has substantially warped discussion in several ways.

4) Various groups of people (both business and science) are afraid for 
various reasons that if MM is taken seriously, it'll threaten their funding.

I can say a lot more on each of these reasons.  There may be other 
reasons as well.  BTW, I wrote about scientific misunderstanding in our 
last monthly newsletter.
http://crnano.org/newsletter.htm#Bugbear
And I'll be writing about engineering vs. biology in the next one; sign 
up at http://crnano.org/contact.htm .

BTW, several people have suggested to me that U.S. mainstream denial is 
a deliberate disinformation campaign: that the U.S. has a molecular 
manufacturing program, and is trying to delay foreign programs.  I have 
no idea whether this is true, so I mention it only for completeness.

By contrast, I've heard that some people overseas think that molecular 
manufacturing is a CIA plot to encourage them to waste money chasing an 
impossibility.  I find this one ridiculous, and I mention it only to 
provide a comparison to the above deliberate-disinformation rumor.

Chris

-- 
Chris Phoenix                                  cphoenix at CRNano.org
Director of Research
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology          http://CRNano.org