Criminal and Terrorist Uses of Nanotechnology
Criminals and terrorists today already have a lot of power, criminals with stronger, smaller and more powerful devices could do serious damage to society. Weapons would become much more deadly while at the same time becoming so small they would be virtually undectable. As detecting crime becomes much harder, criminal activities will become much more appealing and could increase rates of crime as well.
Timmy the Criminal
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Would it be Prudent to Regulate Nanotechnology and its Availability to the Public?
It would be wise to regulate nanotechnology to the public. Since this is such a powerful new technology, if it was rteleased to the public unregulated, there would likely be illegal usage. These criminal uses could not only be devastating, they could be undectable and virtually unstoppable. The danger is compounded by the fact that as nanotechnology is a new technology with little awareness, the public is nearly completely unaware of the dangers that they could be in, and even those who intend to illegally use it would have little knowledge of what it is and how it works. It would be best if it was not released to the public at all until there are ways for the nano devices to be detected and stopped.
What Types of Crime Could Nanotechnology be Used In?
Nanotechnology has a wide range of uses in any field, which means that if criminals managed to gain use of this technology, it could be used in a wide range of crimes. From fraud to genocide, nanotechnology could be used in most anything. Criminals could use nanotechnology to create tiny, deadly nanotoxins which would be undetectable and kill a victim from the inside out. These would be so small a mere suitcasefull would be enough to kill 50 billion people, about 7 times greater than all the people on the planet. They could use nanotechnology to wipe out entire countries with hidden, unstoppable waves of nanobots transmitted through the air. This wide range of uses is why nanotechnology should be regulated or restricted before being released to the public.