R.U.Sirius, who has an impressive track record of spotting cultural andtechnological trends years before the rest of the media pick up on it,has posted an interview with me on his neofiles Webzine. Mr. Sirius gave me tons of room to rant and gussied it up withsome very pretty pictures. R.U. gave me the chance to expand on what itis I'm trying to accomplish on this blog and in some of my other work.Here's a clip:

NEOFILES: Howard, you're one of the main editors of a daily webzine dedicated to the nanotech industry and then you do a nano blog besides. How did you become so obsessed with nanotechnology and what sustains your obviously intense interest?

HOWARD LOVY: Well, like most journalists, I'm anexpertat nothing myself, except maybe at describing, in understandable terms,what the real experts are up to. I spent most of my career as ageneral-interest newspaper journalist, but also wrote a great dealabout Jewish and Mideast issues. My personal background gave me somegenetic insight into the topic, but writing about it also allowed me totake a look at any issue from the perspective of an "outsider," makingme naturally question the base assumptions that motivate any society,culture, government or majority opinion. So, my natural inclination isto look at any issue of public concern — especially ones in which thereappears to be a monolithic opinion — and find those who begin with awhole different set of assumptions or beliefs. I've always thought thatwas the role of journalism — not to confirm for the majority what theyalready believe, but to make them constantly question their ownassumptions by exposing them to the minority opinion. That's the onlyway a free society can be certain it's making the right decisions, bybeing forced to defend it. ...


So, I launched Howard Lovy's NanoBot in the summer of2003, and I'm just amazed at how widely it's being read and howinfluential it's becoming. That tells me there's a hunger for thisperspective on nanotech — not only the financial aspects — and I'llkeep using it to question, prod and annoy those who believe they knoweverything there is to know about it.