Rising criticism of the likelihood of grey goo scenarios and other science frontier, and typically dystopian, narratives within the nanoethics discourse has led to charges by Alfred Nordmann, Arie Rip, and others that such speculative ethics rely upon a methodologically flawed “if, then” claim for their analysis of emerging technologies. Such speculative approaches, it is charged, treat imagined futures (hypotheticals) as if they already exist, and thereby displace actual presenting issues of the emerging technologies. Yet, Henk ten Have and others have pointed to the need for broader approaches to technology assessment, which extend to value determinations and include anticipating futuristic applications. Balancing ethical reflection of existing applications of emerging technologies such as various nanotechnologies with possible futuristic applications and potential implications for human futures is a delicate task, particularly in the context of conceptual and policy vacuums for such technologies. This paper will explore possible roles for speculative narratives within a broader paradigm of technology assessment for emerging technologies that accounts for not only assessment of the technology itself in its technical dimensions, but attends to broader considerations of value and desired human futures. Resources will be drawn from Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy of narrative to develop a response articulating that speculative ethics can have a significant, but not exclusive role in proper technology assessment.