Technology Works
Mike Treder
2005-04-04 00:00:00
URL


This is really wonderful.
It's an application of research
and development being put to
direct use in improving lives.



* A quadriplegic man in
Massachusetts has shown he
can change TV channels, turn
room lights on and off, open
and close a robotic hand and
sort through messages in a
mock e-mail program.

* Seven paralyzed
patients near Stuttgart,
Germany, have been surfing
the Internet and writing
letters to friends from
their homes.


* At a lab in
Switzerland, two healthy
volunteers learned to steer
a 2-inch, two-wheeled robot
-- sort of like a tiny
wheelchair -- through a
dollhouse-sized floor plan.



There are many such stories,
perhaps not as dramatic and
rarely making headlines -- but
technology does do good
things for people today and can
do much more in the future.


Of course, CRN would be the
first to admit that along with


benefits
there may
come


risks
, especially
from advanced


nanotechnology
.


But it is because of
all the positive results that
can happen -- the diseases
stopped, the undernourished fed,
the illiterate made literate --
that we say general-purpose
molecular manufacturing should
be developed as soon as it
possibly can, in a safe and
responsible way.


It is a great challenge, both


technological
and


political
, to do it
right. It will require


participation
of
far-thinking and progressive
people from all over the world,
including scientists, engineers,
economists, sociologists,
ecologists, ethicists, and many
more.


This is a rare opportunity,
and we must not pass it up.