NBIC-Convergence of Machinery and Basic Technologies as the Ecological Factor of Wellbeing

Abstract

The development of science and technology in the XXI century is on the way of the extensive use of natural resources. As a result, the scientific and technical progress does not initiate the reduction of environmental damage but encourages its cumulative growth. So the environmental problems have become a serious threat to social wellbeing of all mankind. The development of the core technologies doesn't allow creating the situation in which the new knowledge would generate positive changes in the environment. Therefore, among the issues that define the future of advanced environmental technologies, and potentially significant for the understanding of the humanities, there is the phenomenon of technological convergence and, in particular, the predicted convergence of the nano-, bio-, information and cognitive technologies (NBIC). The consequence of NBIC-convergence may be the transformation of the humanity into a single global mind, which can be linked into a solid set of technologies, establishing united standards for social wellbeing and environmental technologies.