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The USC NanoCenter, ICAN Productions, and the S.C. State Museum will host a free public forum on nano-medicine and human enhancements at 6 p.m. April 24 at the museum, 301 Gervais Street.
The forum will consist of structured small group discussions in which participants can express their values and concerns about nano-medicine and its ethical challenges. New advances in nano-medicine could dramatically change the condition of human life by producing enhancements or non-therapeutic uses that extend human abilities beyond current powers.
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| Christopher Toumey |
A free light dinner for registered participants will be available at 5:30 p.m. before the program.
The first Nano Future Forum in Columbia focused on nano-medicine and extending the human lifespan. This second forum will address enhancements that go beyond medical therapeutics and questions that include: Should human enhancements be available to all and funded by tax revenues? Would this detract from other health programs? Should enhancements be bought and sold in the private sector, creating a world of "haves" and "have-nots"?
The Nano Future Forums also offer an on-line session to learn more about these issues and engage in dialogue with leading scientists and bio-ethicists.
The results of discussions in the forums will be reported in a white paper to the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, and other institutions.
The first two series of Nano Future Forums were in Berkeley, Calif., and Boston, Mass. "The forums have come to Columbia because our community also wants to have a voice in decisions about emerging technologies, and we have informed citizens whose voices are worth hearing," said Christopher Toumey, a research associate professor of anthropology at USC who is director of the S.C. Citizens' School of Nanotechnology."This is a real credit to the greater Columbia area and we can show the organizers they made a good choice in coming here," he said.
For information, contact Toumey at 7-2221 or Toumey@sc.edu.
To register for the forum online, go to www.smartscience.org/Columbia.htm.
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