Nanotechnology is going to change the world radically, if we choose to pursue it... it has been speculated that if we understood nanotechology to it's very last detail, we could make machines that can create anything out of the necessary base elements... it can even (theoretically) lead to post-scarcity, which pretty much means that no one has to work at all... ever... and still have absolutely everything they need. Also because it can make/change anything, it will raise a lot of morality issues. Much like human cloning is doing now.
