Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital shared his vision of how public and private capital will fund NBIC-oriented companies. Not shy to admit that his fund is just getting interested in companies that go beyond "ordinary" nano-material science, Josh gave a clear "thumbs up" to the long-term viability of the nano-biotechnology market.

Wrye Sententia spoke on the work being done by the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics (CCLE). She argued that the U.S. Constitution's framers innately understood that mental freedom actually precedes freedom of speech in terms of an individual's right to privacy.

In regards to coming neurotechnologies she asserted that it is an inherent American Right to have freedom from them and freedom to them. Audience members agreed with the caveat that their is an equal right to be responsible.

Watch the neuroethics debate with great interest, it's important to us all.

Carlo Montemagno gave an incredible talk on how his UCLA biomotor group has developed artificial nano-slime (otherwise known as actin-based nanorobotic systems). Heavy into biomimetics (mimicking nature) he has developed a working model that shows real promise. After having tried to design nanosystems for almost a decade, he finally turned to nature's rules: local communication, no central processing, fully distributed, and stupid agents that follow simple rules. Check out the videos!

Mihail Roco, conference co-chairman and primary NSF supporter of the NBIC initiative gave a 10,000 ft. overview of the past two years of work around NBIC. Having been the key architect behind the National Nanotechnology Initiative and having helped its research budget grow from $116m in 1997 to $700M in 2003, Mike is now looking to do the same with NBIC.

Mike's vision is right on target. He constantly cajoles speakers and participants to think about the social implications of bleeding-edge technology, while also attempting to keep everyone focused on the goal of enhancing human performance. His five areas of interest:

Philip Bond gave a thoughtful, truthful and inspiring lunch-time talk on the value of honest communication with government representatives. Calling on NBIC experts to fly to D.C. to share their views on the importance and reality of NBIC, he sketched a realistic portrait of the US body politic.

Most insightful comment: "When the horse-less carriage was invented, the City of San Francisco required that users park outside of city limits and ride a horse the rest of the way." He knows his political economic history and our political reality.

On a personal note, Philip suggested that he is starting to feel that it would be nice to have a cognitive enhancer focused on helping him remember people's names, but the truth is that if you are as caring a politician as he is, you'd have to remember quite a few names. Sometimes people underestimate what they do.