Nanotechnology terrorism in Mexico?

The nano terrorism trial in Switzerland concludes (my July 25, 2011 posting) while Mexico seemingly has an outbreak of nano terrorism.  According to one account, there were two incidents this week, one at Mexico’s National Polytechnical Institute on Tuesday, August 9, 2011 (another account notes that there were previous incidents in April and May 2011 targeting the same professor but does not mention an August 9 attempt) and a more serious one (two professors were injured) at the Monterrey Technological Institute (the campus on the outskirts of Mexico City) on Monday, August 8, 2011.

The group identified as likely culprits (a partially identified note was found at the scene of the August 8 incident) is called, in English, ‘Individuals Tending to Savagery (ITS)’. They have attacked academics before and are known for opposing nanotechnology experiments.

One of the injured professors works in the field of robotics and the intended target of the August 9 (?), April and May 2011 incidents, Oscar Camacho, works in the field of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).

I gather the group (ITS) has posted a manifesto online which states that nanoparticles could cause the planet earth to turn into grey goo (a well worn and popular ‘end of the world because of nanotechnology’ scenario first posited by Eric Drexler who has since repudiated it but taken up by any number of science fiction writers).

Dexter Johnson at Nanoclast (on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering [IEEE] website) notes in his August 11, 2011 posting,

The confusion—that now seems insurmountable—over the advanced material science that accounts for the nanotechnology being used in products today and the molecular mechanosynthesis of the famed “nanobot” variety has now resulted in violence.

My sympathies to the injured academics and their families.

3 thoughts on “Nanotechnology terrorism in Mexico?

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