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NANOTECH

                                                         ~1992

Nanotechnology means technology that
works on the scale of nanometers, in
analogy to microtechnology that works
on the scale of micrometers.

In other words, the manipulation of
matter with atomic scale precision.
The capability to build devices
atom by atom.

We don't have it yet, really.  Some
things are getting close, though.
For example, atoms of silicon can be
moved one at a time with an STM (Scanning
Tunneling Microscope) tip.  The folks
at Almaden have spelled out "IBM" in
Xenon atoms (on a _cold_ surface).

Drexler argues that the advance of
several fields (Physics, Chemistry,
Biology...) make it innevitable that
we'll have true nanotechnology
before long.

He predicts that nanotech will be
used to build "Assemblers"
self-replicating, programmable
machines the size of viruses,
capable of manipulating matter
into any form not prohibited by
laws of physics or chemistry...

He expects that hordes of these                My expectation is that
assemblers will be capable of                  the software will prove
doing various amazing things,                  to be the hard part.     ARTY
for example, in the medical
realm they could act as cell                   Pattern recognition
repair machines that cure                      on human DNA? How tough
cancer, prevent aging, fix                     is that?
damage from freezing, etc.
                                               And if self-replication
                                               turns out to be a difficult
                                               trick, then Drexler's hordes
                                               turn into a handful, and
                                               the whole technology is
                                               much less powerful.

                                     
Eric Drexler's _Engines_of_Creation_      
is still the best introductary            
reference, even if it was published       
in 1987.  The more recent "Unbounding             I've always hated works
The Future" (1991) is popularized in              about speculative
a very annoying way.                              technology that include
                                                  detailed fictional
                                                  scenarios, like the
                                                  "Desert Industries"
                                                  routine in _Unbounding_.
                                                  It has the air of bogus
                                                  prophecy about it.

                                                  Science Fiction be
                                                  Science Fiction, and
                                                  Science Fact be Science
                                                  Fact, and you should
                                                  write one or the other.
                                                  
                                                         Or so it seems to me. 

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