The Rhetoric of Nanotechnology

The following examines the special needs for communicating risk, espe- cially risks associated with newly emerging technologies such as nanotechnology. The public is not receiving a lucid message from the many narratives. Scientists have begun to address the public directly with mixed results especially since the public is unprepared for the messages and the media fails to offer much assistance. The rhetorical strategies undertaken by proponents are examined with a case study. K. Eric Drexler advocated a self-assembling nanobot molecular manufacturing brand of nanotechnology. His rhetoric has buried the concept under layers of meta- phorical obfuscation and has been detrimental to a coherent message.