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Nature Nanotechnology 3, 2–3 (1 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.427

Atom and Eve

Chris Toumey

Debates about nanotechnology and religion have become dominated by the concepts of transhumanism and cyberimmortality, but, argues Chris Toumey, there are more interesting topics to discuss. In a scene from a science fiction story called “Halo” by Charles Stross, Muslim scholars at an Islamic seminary in Cairo consider the religious implications of nanotechnology. All meat from a pig is forbidden, but if a molecular assembler can organize atoms and molecules from scratch to replicate a strip of bacon, without it ever being part of a living pig, is it still forbidden by Halal laws?