WHAT: nano-military conference

WHERE: London, 51/53 Hatton Garden, EC1N 8HN.

MEET AT: Farringdon Tube station

WHEN: Monday 30th October, 12 Midday

THEME: Sci-Fi fancy dress – frankenstein/cybermen etc. bring banners, instruments, friends! (costumes not essential!)

WHY: are you anti-war? are you anti-corporate technologies that destroy nature, cause health-problems and all the rest?

Aims of the conference:

“Keeping pace with the military application of nano & microtechnology research and development is vital if a technological edge is to be maintained in national defence.”

to “illustrate the increasing commercial aspect of nano and micro systems outlining current market trends and addressing issues such as patenting MNT technologies.”
find out more -  http://www.smi-online.co.uk/events/overview.asp?is=1&ref=2469

Meanwhile.....

Workers, consumers, non-human animals and nature are being exposed to nano-particles that have not been tested all for the sake of the multi-billion dollar nanotech industry.

Biotech broke the species barrier and nanotech breaks the life/non-life barrier. Just as biotech's ability to manipulate genes went hand in hand with the patenting of life, so too nanotech's ability to manipulate molecules has led to the patenting of matter.

Nanotech is the manipulation of matter at a size so small that it is measured in nanometres (one billionth of a metre), the scale of atoms and molecules.

$9 billion per year is being invested in nanotech by the world's most powerful governments and richest corporations (including IBM, DuPont, Syngenta, Exxon, Pfizer, L'Oreal and Kraft).

For corporations, nanotechnology opens up a whole new world of possible applications and product opportunities across all sectors of the economy.

The military are working on nano-sized capsules containing chemical/biological weapons designed to break open and release their contents only under certain conditions.

Lots of interest has been generated by the concept of technological convergence at the nanoscale. This stems from the idea that everything is the same at the nano-scale leading to the possible merger of formerly discrete technologies including: nanotech, biotech, info tech and cognitive neuroscience. Convergence reaches into a brave new world where human enhancement and machine-mind interfaces become conceivable goals. Although it sounds like the stuff of a bad sci-fi novel, nano-enabled technological convergence is likely to become science fact as it is attracting interest from powerful supporters.

At present there are no regulatory frameworks designed specifically to deal with nanotechnology anywhere in the world.

(most of the above was taken from - www.corporatewatch.org.uk – report: 'Nanotechnology What it is and how corporations are using it')