Betterhumans.com: The Big Letdown
“But a moratorium on nanotechnology is, quite simply, dumb. What
we need to do is bring advanced technology back into the public
domain. And this requires improving our democracies…“A more promising goal might be for us to encourage the founders
of nanotechnology, at work as we speak, to opt for open source
development…”
Foresight Institute: Open Sourcing Nanotechnology Research and
Development: Issues and Opportunities
“The prominent role of software in nanotechnology research and
development suggests that open source development methods might
offer advantages in improving reliability, performance and
accessibility. Open source approaches have demonstrated new
opportunities for voluntary cooperation to create and improve
complex software. Suitable software licenses could be used to
promote access, compatibility and sharing of improvements. Many
companies currently associated with nanotechnology produce
materials, equipment, and research and development services, all of
which could support open source business models; however no company
yet emphasizes an open source strategy. Some molecular modeling
software is already open source or public domain. Software for
molecular engineering constitutes an important opportunity for open
sourcing, especially if systems architectures encouraging
collaboration can be further developed. Analysis suggests that the
net impact of open sourcing would be to enhance safety. Initiatives
for open sourcing of molecular nanotechnology could be strengthened
by coalition building, and appropriate strategies for open source
licensing of copyrights and patents…”