NANO: WHERE ART MEETS SCIENCE

August 18, 2004
		Through an interactive exhibit, professors James Gimzewski and Victoria Vesna from the University of California at Los Angeles hope to inform visitors about the basics and uses of nanotechnology. The two answer your questions on nanotechnology, and how art can help us better understand the complex field.

Online NewsHour Special Report: Nanotechnology: Where Art and Science Meet Forum Introduction What are the potential applications for nanotechnology in medical science? What are some examples of the use of nanotechnology in practical applications today? What about the dangers of novel, tiny molecular assemblages interacting in unforeseen ways with the biota? What are the theological implications of nanotechnology? Is this exhibit going to be traveling to other art museums or "nano" conferences around the country?	Clarry White of Adelaide, South Australia, asks: John Polkinghorne posited a new Western theology through an understanding of the hologram. What are the theological implications of nanotechnology? Professors James Gimzewski and Victoria Vesna respond: The theological implications of nanotechnology are beyond our ability to comprehend. It is as if we were at the beginning of the 20th century trying to imagine the possibilities of electricity. There are very few who came even close to the reality of the end of the century. Indeed, it was mostly science fiction writers and not scientists who were able to gleen into the future vision. This is the reason it is, in my view, important to have discussions with people from art, science and spiritual realms engage in discussion of the possibilities. Although we are not able to forsee everything, if we took this approach when the nuclear bomb was being created, perhaps we would have anticipated some of the issues that are still not solved around arms proliferation and disposal of nuclear waste. Ultimately, it is about our collective shift in consciousness and scientists alone cannot give the answers to these kind of questions.