2006/2
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In the past, communication by signs and symbols converged with materials when language was first expressed in writing. Symbolic technologies converged with electronic technologies to launch the information society. Computing and communication technologies converged on the basis of digital information. And now, digital technologies are converging with the organic world, including the human body. As one writer in this issue points out, “Whatever position one may have in relation to converging technologies, there can be little doubt that humankind is in the process of developing new tools that have far-reaching implications for its future.” New technologies have enormous potential, but they also have the capacity to change us as human beings. For that reason alone, communicators and society must engage in a wide-ranging debate about the broad social and ethical issues raised by the convergence of digital technologies with other technologies.
Cees Hamelink
The question raised in this article is what consequences will converging technologies have for the way human beings communicate in the future?
Humans have an almost unlimited desire to communicate, even with angels, trees and dolphins. Converging technologies promise to open up further opportunities to expand this communicative compulsion. Enormous benefits could be in store such as the removal of all the obstacles that during most of human history limited the effectiveness of message transfer. Such obstacles were the restrictions of distance, speed, volume, and reliability.
Clifford Christians
We discover technical truths about the world through science and technology. High-energy physics, molecular biology, astronomy – sophisticated science makes God’s creation intelligible. Scientific data help cure disease and enrich civilization. And now a dazzling new world is breaking open around the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, cognitive science, and information technology. Before the scientific age, our explanations centred on dark forces, mystery, the gods. Today we have truth tested by laboratory research and electronic instruments.
Albert van den Heuvel
Trying to make sense of the ethical dimension of new technologies, Christian communicators have at least four hurdles to jump. They have to develop empathy with modern technologies and their impact on modern life; they need to find their way in a very complicated discussion about the general question of ethics and new technologies; they are faced with the question how different religions deal with such issues; and they have to make peace with the divisions within their own Christian community.
Philip Lee
The convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science is transforming global society. Technological convergence is beginning to define the way societies interact and organise themselves, the way science is done and the way the global marketplace is run.
Majid Turmusani
Recent years have witnessed extensive development of genetic technology notably in the field of modified plantations and food and lately regarding the technology of cloning. It can be argued that tampering with humans through food and genes is a violation of basic human rights for decent living and a safe existence, which are clearly stated in Article (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948) and more specifically in UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (UNESCO, 1997). More recently, the current draft disability convention has touched on this issue in its 4th session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2004) as is discussed below.
Gregor Wolbring
Advances in the converging technological fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and the cognitive sciences are set to increase our abilities to enhance our bodies and brains in terms of structure, function or capabilities. They will do this beyond the typical boundaries of what it means to be human to the point where the technical description of us as members of the species Homo sapiens ceases to be accurate. Many different forms of enhancement are proposed with many different purposes. Each form and purpose of enhancement comes with its own sales pitches, social consequences, problems and implications.
Biological diversity – more commonly known as biodiversity – is a collective term used to describe the totality and variety of life on Earth. In addition to individual organisms themselves and the genetic variability among them, the term also covers the ecosystems in which they live, in other words the various ways in which species interact both with each other and with their surrounding environment.
Nanotechnology is a field of research and innovation concerned with building ‘things’ — generally, materials and devices — on the scale of atoms and molecules. A nanometre is one-billionth of a metre: ten times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. The diameter of a human hair is, on average, 80,000 nanometres.
Technology transfer is the term used to describe the processes by which technological knowledge moves within or between organisations. International technology transfer refers to the way in which this occurs between countries.
The technological knowledge that is transferred can assume various forms. It can be embodied in goods (including physical goods, plant and animal organisms), services and people, and organisational arrangements, or codified in blueprints, designs, technical documents, and the content of innumerable types of training. Alternatively it can be communicated through flows of tacit knowledge – i.e. knowledge that has not been fully codified, and remains embodied in the skills of people.
Notes and links on science and technology