Foresight Institute: studying transformative technologies
Founded in 1986, Foresight was the first organization to educate society about the benefits and risks of nanotechnology. At that time, nanotechnology was a little-known concept.
Today, nanotechnology research is widespread, and scientific knowledge of the molecular world is advancing rapidly. Enabling technologies ranging from MEMS and NEMS to molecular biology are developing at a steady pace. At the same time, other technologies with a potential for major transformative effects are beginning to show accelerating feedback interactions with nanotech. A prominent example is artificial intelligence, which is being informed by knowledge from neuroscience gained by increasingly fine-grained measuring and sensing capabilities. AI, along with computer modeling in general, will greatly accelerate the development of nanotech -- indeed, molecular experiments are already being planned, executed, and interpreted by machine.
These converging technological capabilities bid fair to change the world in radical ways in the coming decades -- radical, but not unforseeable. Foresight sees its charter and tradition as using all the intellectual tools available, from history to computer modeling, to help understand changing parameters these new technologies will provide to the human condition.
Foresight is a member-supported organization. Our membership, including over 14,000 individuals and a growing number of corporations, is diverse demographically and geographically. They are interested in ensuring that the future of nanotechnology unfolds for the benefit of all. These concerned individuals include scientists, engineers, business people, investors, publishers, artists, ethicists, policy makers, interested laypersons, and students from grammar school to graduate level.
Foresight ® is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible in the US to the full extent provided by law.
About Foresight Institute
Foresight Institute is a leading think tank and public interest organization focused on transformative future technologies. Founded in 1986, its mission is to discover and promote the upsides, and help avoid the dangers, of nanotechnology, AI, biotech, and similar life-changing developments. Foresight provides balanced, accurate and timely information to help society understand nanotechnology through publications, public policy activities, roadmaps, prizes, and conferences. Contact: Christine Peterson tel +1 (650) 289-0860 ext 255 peterson@foresight.org
Foresight 2010: the Synergy of Molecular Manufacturing and AGI
January 16-17, 2010
Palo Alto, California
http://foresight.org/conf2010/
Join us for the first conference focused on the Synergy of Molecular Manufacturing and general Artificial Intelligence and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of Foresight. The two day conference rate is $175 with discounts for early registration.
2009 Challenge Grant
Double the impact of your donation and membership dollars
Deadline: December 31, 2009
With contributions like yours, Foresight will be able to advance beneficial nanotechnology through our publications, prizes, and Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems. We will continue to be a growing force enabling businesses, scientists, technologists, policy makers, investors, and individuals to be informed about how nanotechnology can contribute to a better future.
Thanks to a generous $40,000 Challenge Grant, every contribution you make to Foresight is matched dollar for dollar. This Challenge is for a limited time only, so give today. Donations and memberships sent by December 31, 2009, qualify as 2009 tax deductions. For extra tax savings, you can donate appreciated stock.
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Foresight Making News
Foresight Institute announces Feynman Prize Winners
Nanotech Think Tank Honors Top Researchers
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Richard P. Feynman
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The Foresight Institute, a nanotechnology education and public policy think tank based in Palo Alto, has announced the winners of the prestigious 2009 Foresight Institute Feynman Prizes in Nanotechnology.
The winner of the 2009 Feynman Prize for Experimental work is the team of Yoshiaki Sugimoto, Masayuki Abe (Osaka University), and Oscar Custance (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan). The winner of the 2009 Feynman Prize for Theory is Robert A. Freitas Jr. (Institute for Molecular Manufacturing)
For more information, see the press release. |
From Here to There: Nanotechnology Roadmap
Foresight Institute and Battelle Unveil a Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems
 Menlo Park, CA – The potential for nanotechnology to "build molecule-by-molecule" has been greatly discussed with one question invariably being asked: How do we get from here to there?
The Foresight Institute, a leading nanotechnology think tank and public interest organization, and Battelle, a leading global research and development organization, have officially unveiled "Productive Nanosystems: A Technology Roadmap." Productive nanosystems are molecular-scale systems that make other useful materials and devices that are nanostructured.
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What Industry Experts are Saying
To download Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems files: http://www.foresight.org/roadmaps.
Remembering the First Foresight Conference
Nanotechnology as seen from 20 years ago
The neat, clear vision of nanotechnology we had in 1989 rested on two key aspects that would make it a transformative, rather than merely an evolutionary, technology:
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The ability to construct and observe at the atomic scale, and the construction of machines at that scale, taking advantage of various phenomena
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These machines could be production machinery for more machines, shortening capital formation times and increasing economic growth rates
The reality of nanotechnology is shaping up differently from the neat visions of those times, but shaping up it is. There is substantial coverage of the first point today: the techniques for manipulating and observing at the molecular scale are well advanced over 1989. There are things that are arguably machines as well: by some definitions, the last two generations of computer processors have been flat-out nanotechnology. On the atomically precise front, which is closer to what we think really makes a difference as far as nanotechnology is concerned, an increasing proportion of work involves nanostructures with electronic or catalytic properties that perform useful functions.
On the second point there remains an odd dichotomy. Researchers working from the direction of biosystems understand and use the autogenous properties of biomolecular components (e.g. polymerases) and use them as a matter of course. Those coming from the chemistry/surface physics direction, however, don't seem to have picked up on it, or at least haven't managed to make the right tools yet.
The bottom line is that 20 years on, the world has picked up strongly on one of the main legs of the nanotech vision, working at atomic scale and precision. The other one, autogenous systems, has been sorely neglected.
In some sense, the two legs of the nanotech vision are the same two properties of life that make living things so different from non-living ones: they have mechanism that is atomically precise and works on that scale; and they reproduce themselves. Besides life, autogenous systems in the real world range from the simple physical models of machine shops that make parts for shop machines, to the memetic ecosystem of ideas that is science itself. Questions that seem like mere technical details, such as growth rates and feedstock closure, turn out to be crucial in understanding major effects ranging from the possibility of gray goo to the prospect of economic displacement. A better understanding of autogeny in software is likely to give us more robust systems and ultimately, true artificial intelligence, since a learning mind is clearly autogenous.
Foresight was a thought leader in 1989 because we had a vision that allowed us to see future possibilities, opportunities and dangers alike, in ways that were not generally apprehended. That is still true. The world at large has picked up on the ``atomic scale'' leg of the vision, but hasn't understood the importance of the autogenous systems one.
The first Foresight Conference was notable, among other things, because it was extremely interdisciplinary. Working at the atomic scale involved pulling together knowledge from many branches of physics, chemistry, biology, and other physical sciences. Leading the way in the unfinished business of autogeny will likewise involve pulling together knowledge from a wide variety of fields, ranging from biology and evolution to computer science (consider von Neumann's classic study of self-reproducing automata) to economics.
This year, for the 20th anniversary of that first groundbreaking conference, Foresight is organizing a new conference to concentrate on the principles, techniques, and impacts (social and economic) of autogenous systems, from nanofactories to self-improving AIs. Your suggestions and help will be invaluable in making it a success.
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