David Berube alerts us to a forthcoming movie in the Sci-Fi Channel, Path of Destruction, aka Stratosphere, where either nanobots escape and devour all they encounter or according to a different source
The movie opens with a faulty nanotechnology experiment that results in a massive, deadly explosion. The company’s CEO manages to sidestep blame by framing a meddling young reporter (Katherine), who now holds the only surviving evidence needed to expose the truth. All the while, the dangerous nanoparticles– having escaped from the explosion into the Stratosphere– threaten to destroy nearby cities with wildly destructive weather patterns. Among the chaos of the storms, and on the run from the authorities, Katherine must– with the help of a young scientist– get the evidence to the goverment to enlist their help before it’s too late… and the deadly disaster turns worldwide.
In other words its a typical boilerplate made for TV disaster movie and the nanoparticles/bots could just as easily be substituted for bees, boggarts or boils with little alteration to the plot or dialogue.
It does indicate that many in the nano community are still terrified of negative media portrayal of technology, as if it will make much difference. Jurassic Park didnt result in hordes of demonstrators turning up outside biotech labs, and it would be most unusual if the same happened as a result of a film ever being made of Prey, which according to Howard Lovy now seems unlikely.
The general public are smarter than many give them credit for, and are usually capable of making a hazy distinction between fact and fiction, although not in every case. If you want to blacken the name of a technology (or anything else), it is far more effective to have Prince Charles worrying about it on the front page of the Daily Mail than make a movie.