Nanotechnology Conference: What was not said - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka
Enthusiastic participants from universities, industry and related institutions took their seats to listen to some most interesting and thought provoking speeches on nanotechnology. For most it was like being taken on a tour to another world where the rules are not the same as ours; that this world which is strange and different had lot of promise; that this world appeared, sometimes, like the wonderland where Alice was once. The conference theme was nanotechnology for poverty alleviation. It was to be used to achieve sustainable development. This is probably why there were concerns about leaving nanotechnology revolution in the hands of developed countries, which will bring in products such as cosmetics, knee guards and stink resistant socks to our countries. The larger issues in energy, medical and environmental fields will get scant attention (especially those factors that will not have a direct commercial gain) and the country will not therefore be able to reap the actual benefits of the revolution.
There was no one to dispute the above position in the audience. No one asked, by getting into the commercial bandwagon itself, whether a country cannot become rich.
No one asked whether countries which later joined the rich world did it through concentrating merely on poverty alleviation initiatives or whether the poverty was alleviated by creating commercially facilitating environs. At least there was not enough debate on the issue