Discussion Questions

Use the questions below to structure a discussion on the promise and peril of technological advancement. We offer some suggested sources to complement your consideration of these important issues.

1) Who should control our personal information? What will happen when an individual’s genome is routinely digitized and archived? Who should control such information? The government? The private sector? The individual? How can such information be secured? How does this information benefit and imperil an individual? 

2) In the coming age of personalized medicine, scientists are predicting life spans of 120 years or more for children born today in parts of the developed world. How will longer, healthier lives change the concept of retirement? Of social security and pensions? This technology is unlikely to be widely available; what consequences will result from the divide between rich and poor, developed and developing worlds?

3) Only in its infancy, nanotechnology has already yielded materials harder than diamond and machines capable of attacking cancer molecules. It will likely be a trillion dollar industry by 2020. Surprisingly, it may also be the first industry to emerge simultaneously in the developed and developing worlds. How can we begin to address the massive technological gap between the developed and developing worlds in other fields as well?

4) Why is it important that developed countries not simply leave behind the developing world as they continue to innovate? Is Thomas Friedman correct in his statement that information technology is bridging the gap and allowing geniuses in developing countries to “innovate without having to emigrate?” Will we see the end of the emigration of skilled workers from the developing world and instead increased migration of skilled workers within it?

Bibliographic Materials from CSIS

The Technology and Public Policy Program at CSIS provides a look at emerging technologies and the issues they present for public policy and national security in the twenty-first century.

Visit the Global Strategy Institute’s Video Interview Library for interviews with the following experts on technology:

• Kelly Carnes, President & CEO, TechVision21
• Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
• Joel Garreau, journalist, The Washington Post, and author, Radical Evolution
• Ray Kurzweil, inventor, futurist, and author of The Singularity is Near

Web Resources

Computation

The Top 500 is the list of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world and provides interesting information on trends as well as geographic location of computers.

Genetics and Biotechnology

The Biotechnology Institute works to educate the public on the promise and challenge of biotechnology.

Nanotechnology

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology researches nanotechnology-related issues from a variety of perspectives, including: political, economic, military, and humanitarian.  Its purpose is to investigate and educate about the societal implications, long-range risks, and effective applications of nanotechnology.  The National Nanotechnology Initiative specifically works on coordinating the multiagency U.S. efforts in nano-scale science, engineering, and technology.

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies works to educate the public on the promise and peril of new technologies.

Further Reading

General

Garreau, Joel.  Radical Evolution. (New York: Doubleday, 2005).
Kurzweil, Ray.  The Singularity is Near. (New York: Penguin, 2005).
Standage, Tom. The Future of Technology. (Profile Books, 2005).
Teich, Albert H. Technology and the Future. (New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 2005).

Computation

Economist. 2005. “Business’s digital black cloud.” The Economist. July 14th. http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4173652.

Miller, John H. and Scott E. Page. Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2007).

Genetics and Biotechnology

Herskovits, Zara. 2005. “DNA Technology Brings Personal Gene Maps Closer.” The Boston Globe. August 15, 2005. Available http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/08/
15/dna_technology_brings_personal_gene_maps_closer/

Nanotechnology

Allen, George. “The Economic Promise of Nanotechnology.” Issues in Science and Technology. 21, no. 4 (Summer 2005): 55. http://www.issues.org/21.4/allen.html.