Q: Why Open Source? Isn’t that only for software?A: Yes and no. There are a wide range of projects based on the OS principles, some of which our listed on our Background page. Open source software consists of several different components: sharable source code, a definition of openness, a copyleft or free software license, a coordination scheme for distributed collaboration, and something like a social movement identity. Obviously projects can have any of these things, but only those that have all of them start to look like Open source software. In addition, OS projects have different goals. Some are committed to openness and freedom at all costs, and insist that only through being open and freely available can knowledge grow. Others are hoping to take advantage of the dynamics of large-scale collaborative innovation, and see OS as an alternative value model. In our case, we are trying to achieve two things: 1) to allow innovations in nanotechnology to be immediately disseminated and innovated in the communities that can use them and 2) to make a difference in how nanotechnology is applied to problems, especially those pressing global problems that are not immediately profitable and so need an alternative, experimental method in order to work.
If you want to understand how OSNano looks different from OS software, you can read this analysis of how we’ve modulated the components of Free Software.
Q: Oh My GOD! Stop! You’ll kill us all. Nanotechnology causes Gray Goo and helps Terrroists!
A: Stop, take a deep breath, pause. OS Nano emerges out of a center (CBEN at Rice) deeply concerned with the environmental and health implications of nanotechnology, and which conducts cutting edge research on the safety and health implications of new nanomaterials.
Nanotechnology can be thought sort of like energy: you can use energy to power lights in a school, or create eco-friendly packaging, but you can also use it to power rockets and create environment-destroying vehicles. In other words, it is not the techniques and tools that are most dangerous, but the way in which they are developed, distributed and overseen. OS Nano is committed to keeping nano-research open to scrutiny, useful for beneficial purposes, and open to criticism for unsustainable ones. What’s more, it is an invitation for people to become involved much further upstream–both scientists and non-scientists–in collaboratively exploring the benefits and risks of nano. As far as terrorists go the worst thing we can imagine happening so far is that terrorists will have clean drinking water.
Q: But seriously, that stuff is dangerous and potentially deadly, why should I touch it.
A: Actually, the problem is not that it is dangerous, but that we know very little about whether it is dangerous. Few scientists make a living testing new materials for their toxic or environmental impacts, and because there are new nanomaterials every month, there are not enough scientists to test them all. In the past, for conventional materials, our knowledge of the harmful effects has only come after a disaster of some kind. Nanotechnology may be one of the few scientific endeavors where concern about safety has translated into actual cutting edge research.
Q: Ok, but how can we be safe if we don’t know anything about this stuff?
A:One of the points of “vernacular” technology is to allow people to make use of chemicals, tools and ideas that are already all around us. This doesn’t mean they are necessarily safe (lye and soldering irons are both dangerous in their own way) but that there is a lot more knowledge about their safe uses than there is for highly toxic chemicals, and super-expensive machinery found in university laboratories. It should go without saying that OS Nano does not take any responsibility for people harming themselves– we expect people to take all necessary precautions if you start experimenting with the procedures and ideas discussed here. But we also want you to share insights about how to become safer, since safety depends a great deal on your context for experimentation and use.
Q: What’s up with the Platypus?
A: Every open source project needs a cute, cuddly animal mascot. Ours represents two things: 1) the hybrid nature of our project, bridging between science and social science, between upstream university research and everyday use of nano and among chemistry, biology and environmental engineering; 2) the platypus, like our research, lives at the “wet-dry interface” and brings together thinking both about biological/environmental systems and physical/chemical/engineering systems.
