About Mike Treder Expertise My specialty is the societal and environmental implications of advanced nanotechnology. I can help people to better understand the implications of molecular manufacturing -- building products "from the bottom up," and to focus on the real risks and benefits of the technology.
Experience I am a professional writer, speaker, and activist with a background in technology and communications company management. In 2002, I co-founded the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), a non-profit think tank. CRN promotes public awareness and education, and the crafting of effective policy to maximize benefits and reduce dangers. I am the executive director of CRN.
Organizations - Research Fellow, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies
- Advisory Board, Global Risks Council
- Consultant, Future Technologies Advisory Group
- Editorial Advisory Board, Nanotech Briefs
- Consultant, AC/UNU Millennium Project
Publications The Futurist (magazine)
The Scientific Conquest of Death (book chapter)
Future Brief (online journal)
Expert: Mike Treder Date: 9/13/2006 Subject: nanobots
Question How serious do you take Ray Kurzweil's book "The Singularity is Near" about the end of Moore's law and the possibility of a utopian society by the 2040's ?
He said that nanotech will allow us to live forever, to manufacture anything at no high cost thus eliminating the "3 class" economic levels of society: rich, middle and poor and to create "Strong AI" that will replace humans as the main driving force behind scientific inventions and discoveries.
Answer In theory, I agree with Ray (who is a friend of mine) that a super-abundant society is possible within the next two or three decades. Whether all of those fabulous predictions come to pass, however, is more a matter of human choices than of technical potential. The fact is that we already have all the technology we need to make our world something close to a utopia. What we don't have is the WILL and the WISDOM.
