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Nanotechnology optimists predict improved economic status and quality of life for communities across the globe once nanotechnologies are fully developed and adopted. Some of the anticipated benefits include affordable energy and medicine as well as cleaner water and environments. Yet social scientists realize that this new technology will lead to different living and economic conditions for different populations. Will this change bring about greater economic equality or a new ‘nano divide’?
The economic consequences of the explosion of information technology, namely in the form of computers and the Internet, provides a good example for understanding how technologies can potentially ‘level the playing field’ but also exacerbate existing economic differences, creating what is popularly known as the ‘digital divide’. Indeed, the Internet does theoretically make information that was once in the hands of smaller groups accessible to a larger public: tips on investing in real estate or buying stocks, New York Times articles, or the latest usage of the hippest words found in online slang dictionaries. The equalizing potential of the Internet can be likened to the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1453. Just as Gutenberg brought knowledge closer to people through the mass production of books, the Internet promised increased knowledge through digital communication.
However, taking advantage of the Internet assumes that an individual has access to a computer. Those who lack computer access are not afforded the benefits offered by the Internet. One of these benefits is access to information about and the means to wealth production—for example, opportunities for buying, selling, and trading goods and stocks. Additionally, communities without sufficient computer training may not be able to develop skills for obtaining many of the Internet’s benefits, even if computers are made available. Differential access to the Internet and disparities in computer skills between youth may lead to profound differences in their academic achievements and, ultimately, their earning potentials.
It is also important to note that Internet content can be biased toward its widest users, who are also its content creators. Science and technology are not neutral products of truth-seeking research, but can be highly directed goals into which social norms, values, and expectations are built. The bias in the production of knowledge about technology may constrain its future applications, serving the needs primarily of the wealthy nations, corporations, and populations who are creating it.
One concern is the broad and complex issue of unequal wealth distribution resulting from new technology. At present, only a small segment of the world’s population has access to the skills for developing nanotechnology as well as patent systems that define their legal rights to specific applications. Unsurprisingly, the wealthiest nations of the world, such as the US, Japan, Germany, and the UK, are at the center of nanotechnology research and development (R&D) boom, while the poorest are not taking part. Likewise, wealthy private corporations and venture capitalists have begun to invest heavily in R&D. New shifts of labor across communities and countries also open up new possibilities for the employed and unemployed to encounter various forms of economic dependence, creating stratified societies that consist of ‘haves’, ‘have not muches’—and the new ‘have nothing at alls’.
Currently, many discussions are taking place about the possibilities of a ‘nano divide’ between different kinds of populations across the globe. Typically, the concerns are framed in terms of the ethics of uneven wealth and goods distribution, although utilitarian arguments are sometimes presented, such as the economic benefits of providing preventive nanomedical insurance for low-income populations to reduce more serious medical costs. Whichever the motivation for these discussions, it is a hopeful sign that social scientists are actively engaged in theorizing the economic possibilities so that effective policies can soon be implemented.
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