At this point in history, tremendous human progress becomes possible through converging technologies stimulated by advances in four core fields: Nanotechnology, Biotechnology Information technology, and new technologies based in Cognitive science (NBIC). Many individual authors had noticed the gathering convergence of technical disciplines, and sociobiologist E. O. Wilson wrote an especially influential 1998 book on the emerging harmony among the sciences. However, convergence became especially visible, and scholarship about its causes and consequences became very active, through a major 2001 conference, sponsored by the . National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce, that resulted in a substantial book (Roco and Bainbridge, 2003)
