Case study: Nanoscience, Nanotechnology, and Ethics: Promise and Peril

1. What is the item that you selected?

2. What is the context of Kurzweil's discussion of this item -- what purposes was Kurzweil's discussion of it supposed to achieve?

3. What are the crucial passages in the text where Kurzweil discusses your item with the most clarity or depth? Please quote short passages and crucial parts of longer passages.

4. What are the most important claims that Kurzweil makes about your item?

5. How clear is Kurzweil's discussions of your item?

6. Are there important questions that Kurzweil fails to address or addresses poorly? What else would Kurzweil have to explain to make his discussion of your item crystal-clear?

7. Does Kurzweil's discussion of your item allow him to reach the goal or purpose you have identified? If so, what are the most effective things he does to achieve his purpose? If not, what are the most significant weaknesses in Kurzweil's discussion?

8. Does Kurzweil's discussion of your item lead to important conclusions, questions, or calls to action?

9. Are there any interesting or important connections between Kurzweil's discussion of your item relate to ideas in Brooks, Clocksin, Joy, or in the other texts we have studied this term?

10. Does Kurzweil's discussion of your item have any practical significance for your life or for your relationship to or use of technology?