NANOSCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE

The basic definition of nanosciences and nanotechnologies is based on their size (between 1 and 100 nanometres, or millionths of a metre). But at this kind of scale, lots of things change, such as the differences between the scientific disciplines that are Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and – to a large degree -- the difference between science and technology. Which explains the more and more frequent convergence of nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, IT and (some of) the cognitive sciences, regrouped by the Americans under the NBIC umbrella. It’s a field in which the outlook is vast, if still poorly defined it’s the stuff of both dreams and nightmares.