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October 14, 2004
Philosophy of Miniature Robots
Yes. Exciting science! Who loves it? Everyone. Nanotechnology will, in all probability, become the most significant development of the 21st century, and there are, of course, various attitudes to take with respect to this: obdurate indifference, frothing anxiety, and cautious optimism, to name just a few. And as with any burgeoning field, there are two (major) schools of thought, both working in a similar direction, but with conflicting ideologies. Dr. Eric Drexler, who heads up the Foresight Institute, and who is just a really fucking smart guy, is the leading man in the investigation of molecular manufacturing, and also the person who has put the most thought into both the applications and dangers (he formulated the 'gray goo' problem, which just talks about how self-replicating nanobots could, if improperly designed, cover the earth in their hot, insatiable mechanical love) of nanotechnology. Howevs, Richard E. Smalley, who is no less than the goddamn Nobel Prize for Chemistry winner of 1996, disagrees with some of Drexler's theories, mostly in the nuts-and-bolts chemistry (his forte, it seems) of the whole thing. Smalley posits that molecular manufacturing will require a much finer 'touch', as it were, than Drexler's hypothetical nanobots could ever possess. Surprisingly, it's a little more complex than what we've presented here, but let's stop for a minute to think about how cool it would be to have air-conditioned clothes (post-cloth-mask Cobra Commander stylee). Or metallic blood. Anyway, check out the full text of Smalley and Drexler's open letter exchange here. Best line, from Smalley: "You are still in a pretend world..." Ooh, burn!
Posted by matt at October 14, 2004 08:00 AM
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Comments
I have a question regarding nanotechnology--when can we expect the ability to shrink Dennis Quaid to a size ssmaller than a blood vessel and then inject him in Martin Short's ass?
Posted by: Sean at October 14, 2004 04:31 PM
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