Nanobots and Nanotechnology: What is the World Coming To?
By Raquel B.
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Nanotechnology is a very eluding term. It refers to anything that is the size of nanometers, or one-billionth of a meter. This could be anything, from tiny molecular assemblers to nanomachines that clear arteries. Two types of nanomachines are disassemblers and assemblers. Disassemblers are "molecular machines" that take apart molecules atom by atom and record their structure, while assemblers do the opposite, building molecular structures atom by atom. These nanomachines, or nanobots as they are called, are unleashing imaginations, terrifying some and inspiring others. Nanobots can do seemingly anything, affecting every science, including ecology, medicine, and the further exploration of outer space. Nanobots, or Molecular assemblers, are still very far away, as far off as twenty-five years for nanomachines or medical applications, but when they are finally made and proven, tremendous changes will take place.
The benefits of nanotechnology are immense. In medicine, these tiny robots can float through blood streams, cleansing and adding oxygen as they go. They could also administer drugs to only the cancerous cells, could eliminate tumors in the first stages and in their entirety, could regulate the immune system for  HIV positive and AIDS victims, on and on. Pollution during manufacture would no longer be an issue, since nanobots would produce superior products and virtually no pollution. We would be taking familiar manufacturing systems and putting them on an atomic scale of precision. The nanobots could also cleanse air and water of harmful agents by semipermeable membranes, allowing, for example,  water to pass through and not dirt. The ability to make smaller, lighter machines will help in space exploration. Once you start thinking about it the possibilities are endless. However, there are some who disagree. Nanotechnology, with all its amazing possibilities for good, can also be used for evil, with consequences as exponential as the boons seem to be. Just as easily as nanobots could be used to kill pathogens, they could be used to create them.
History has proven that humans are neither ethical nor perfect, and our hunger for power and revenge makes obliteration of the human race very probable. How may we prevent our destruction? It may not come from conscious decision by either man or machine as well; two scenarios may occur. One, that over the course of time we unconsciously start relying on machines more and more to make our decisions and run our lives until we become so dependant upon them that we eventually reach the point where to turn them off would be suicide. Another scenario is that the control and overseeing of the machines becomes selected to only one elite group taking care of the machines to support the masses, until the masses become superfluous and eventually either eliminated by the elite or shepherded over until they are degraded to be about the same as domestic animals.
It seems humanity is doomed. We cannot stop nanotechnology, if we attempt to it will only go underground and become even more dangerous than before. Another even more important question is overlooked in this debate: where is God in all this? Will he allow us to eventually be obliterated by nanobots? Will nanobots be used to be the beast's mark? Or will humanity be allowed to become like domesticated animals? Will nanotechnology's dangers be recognized and stopped after a horrible disaster, like the atomic bomb? Or will the dangers be avoided? That is when we could arrive at the scariest scenario of all: we become so sure of ourselves and our ability to solve our every problem that we come to the conclusion that we don't need God, or worse, that we can become God. Nanotechnology could become a modern-day  "tower of babel." At this point in time, we can only guess. It is our choice: will we look upon this with fear, anxiety, and apprehension, or we can follow our Lord's instructions in Matthew 24:6, " You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come."  If we place our hope in Christ, I believe everything will turn out right according to his plan.      
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