Nano arms race

From Wise Nano

Jump to: navigation, search


Advanced nanotech weapons may lead to arms race.

Would a nano-based arms race be unstable?

There are several reasons to think it would be more unstable -- more likely to lead to accidental, unwanted war -- than the nuclear arms race.

  • More proliferation: smaller, more desirable technology
    • This implies instead of two major players, there could be a dozen
  • Faster development
  • Less barrier to use / more kinds of weapons
  • Less time to develop theories of stability

An issue that may go either way:

  • Uncertainty about what the other side has

(This makes it hard to be sure of victory, but may tempt false confidence or lead to panicked attempts at preemption.)

Could a nano-based arms race be prevented?

Would this require trust between all nano-enabled nations?

What could make a nation feel secure in a nano-filled world?

Retrieved from "http://www.wise-nano.org/w/index.php/Nano_arms_race"
Personal tools