Vice President Foresight Nanotech Institute

Christine Peterson writes, lectures, and briefs the media on coming powerful technologies, especially nanotechnology. She is Founder and Vice President, Public Policy, of Foresight Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotech public interest group. Foresight educates the public, technical community, and policymakers on nanotechnology and its long-term effects. She serves on the Advisory Board of the International Council on Nanotechnology, the Editorial Advisory Board of NASA’s Nanotech Briefs, and on California’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology.

The drive for enhancement has been strong throughout human history.  A primary objection to new methods of enhancement has been the prospect of increased inequality, disrupting social cohesion.  Efforts to suppress enhancement may lead to unintended consequences, including even greater inequality.  We can begin today to draw distinctions between modifications that society should permit, and those that may need to be discouraged.