I got your tiny ungulates right here!

I had to do a modicum bit more research for this post than normal…but don’t worry, I promise I won’t let a little digging get in the way of shoddy writing or broad sweeping generalizations. I saw the original teaser story on Engadget and then had to do some old-fashion investigative Google-ing to get a bit more detail.

According to Professor Dietram Scheufele speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science two -thirds of Americans find nanotechnology to be morally unacceptable. Do-what-now?

Apparently the University of Wisconsin conducted a survey this last summer directed at finding out how people view nanotechnology. Only 29.5% of Americans found it to be acceptable. Further more, people in the UK, Germany, and France found nanotechnology to be more acceptable (54.1%, 62.7%, and 72.1% approve of nanotechnology respectively.)

So why do Americans hate nanotechnology? Professor Scheufele thinks it’s because Americans got more religion.

"The United States is a country where religion plays an important role in peoples' lives. The importance of religion in these different countries that shows up in data set after data set parallels exactly the differences we're seeing in terms of moral views. European countries have a much more secular perspective."

What is really disconcerting about their findings is they claim it is not an issue of the survey respondents being uninformed. People weren’t saying no because they were confusing nanotechnology with other technologies or voting thumbs down just because they didn’t understand what they were being asked about. They claim the respondents were well informed about the technology and its potential benefits and yet….

"They still oppose it," he says. "They are rejecting it based on religious beliefs. The issue isn't about informing these people. They are informed."

So where does that leave us? I spent some time trying to find the actual survey used. I was interested to see how the questions where actually worded. “Would you find it morally acceptable to use nanotechnology to make babies explode?” or perhaps “How do you feel about using nanotechnology to poke God in the eye?” Sadly, I was unable to find the actual survey.

I suspect the results probably have something to do with the current debate about biotechnology, stem-cell research, and all those evil scientist trying to cure incurable diseases (don’t they know they could be inventing more erectile-dysfunction pills!)

However, Americans with strong religious convictions may just be worried about people like Dawn. While we were discussing this Dawn had the idea that she could invent nano-camels. Her logic was if you take the following gospel:

“ ...I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:24.

With nano-camels it would be relatively simple to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. Therefore aiding rich men (and presumable rich women) looking for entrance into heaven. She giggle with glee as she pointed out she could charge a ton of money for nano-camels since she knew her target customers would be loaded...which in turn would make her rich. But no worries there, using one of her own nano-camels she would still be able to get into heaven to spite her new found fortune.