Center for Nanotechnology in Society

Major issues surrounding the impact of emerging nanotechnologies on society were well represented at a conference on human enhancement at the Said Business School at the University of Oxford. The essay describes the contrasting perspectives of speakers from the United States, Continental Europe, and the global South. Cutting across regional differences was a second debate: while some participants felt that social issues were presented as a drain on scientific progress, others, including the author, argued that culture and society should be analyzed alongside science as positive contributors to human enhancement. The essay suggests that creative process is a better model of societal governance of science than is regulation alone, and that this perspective might help bridge some of the conference's contrasting perspectives.