Donate
Donate

Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: February 2001

Another venture capitalist speaks out on nanotech

from the Jurvetson-Wolfe-who's-next dept.
Also from TNT, a pointer to Steve Lenhert's About.com interview of Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital. Excerpts: "I don't really think we have pure-play nanotechnology [public] stocks yet… In fact, don't be surprised if some of the more exciting developments and product introductions come from the incumbent chemical manufacturers: Dow, BASF, DuPont…A lot of the really exciting progress that we will see in the next few years will be happening at private startups that seek to emulate Zyvex's high-reaching goals…Nano companies have to be sure to balance the blue-sky research with real demand."

Nanomotors: biological & non-biological

from the clearly-explained dept.
The free email newsletter TNT Weekly points out a good piece in Mechanical Engineering magazine on Hybrid NEMS, covering the work of Carlo Montemagno and Alex Zettl on molecular motors and bearings. TNT says: "This article is not just another rehashing of the same material but gives more technical detail on the biomolecular motor work than we've seen in any review so far, and in a pretty accessible way. The other researcher puts across his view that we will probably eventually create machines based upon what we've learned from the biological ones rather than using the biological ones directly."

Successes with cryopreservation

from the onwards-to-the-brain dept.
Senior Associate Charles Vollum writes "Looks like there is good news for cryonics in this BBC article. The story states that 'Frozen human ovary tissue – a potential fertility lifeline for hundreds of UK women – has been successfully thawed and revived in mice.' " Another excerpt: "Dr Debra Gook, who led the team at the city's Royal Women's Hospital, said: 'Our study is the first to confirm normal growth and development of human follicles. The high rate of functional preservation of follicles following cryopreservation also suggests that cryopreservation of ovarian tissues has real potential for clinical application.' "

Idea futures in Science: a strongly positive review

from the it-works! dept.
In a Feb 9, 2001 item in Science entitled "The Real Power of Artificial Markets" (subscription req'd), it is reported that: "Assessing the probabilities of future events is a problem often faced by science policymakers…At the Foresight Exchange (FX) Web site (http://www.ideosphere.com/), traders can actually bet on the outcomes of unresolved scientific questions…But can we place legitimate credence on the accuracy of FX prices, which are determined solely through competition in a play-money market game? To an extent, yes. We find that FX prices strongly correlate with observed outcome frequencies." Bravo to all at FX and to Robin Hanson, Idea Futures originator. Play for *real* money online at the Foresight Senior Associates idea futures market — just think how accurate it will be. We hope to trade in person at the upcoming Gathering.

Freitas on "Tangible Nanomoney"

from the ununquadium-standard dept.
RobertBradbury writes "In this article,"Tangible Nanomoney," Robert A. Freitas, Jr., the Zyvex Research Scientist and IMM Research Fellow, whom we all know as the paradigm defining author of Nanomedicine, outlines possible strategies for developing tangible nanomoney. Are his proposals feasible and desirable? Should we be planning the nanomints of tomorrow?
This was originally published in the Nanotechnology Industries Newsletter. Kudos to Robert Bradbury for helping make it available on the web. Read More for more questions.

Human-computer collaboration in science

from the but-who-gets-first-authorship? dept.
Waldemar Perez noted a New Scientistarticle on silicon scientists. "This fits perfectly with Drexler's automated engineering mentioned in Engines of Creation. This article talks about Inductive Logic Programming. I'm really impressed with the progress of robotics in the last couple of years.
Read More for an initial quote from the article.

Smalley on the future of nanotubes

from the let-your-imagination-fly dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes "MIT's Technology Review printed an interesting Q&A session with Richard E. Smalley, the founder of the "buckyball" and nanotech guru, asking what he sees in the nanotube future."
Read More for some quotes.

Nanotechnology and The Ultimate Terrorists

from the choice-of-weapons dept.

There has been much discussion on Nanodot recently about regulating nanotechnology. Some of the scarier scenarios of abuse come from the threat of nanoweapons unleashed by terrorists. Jessica Stern's book, The Ultimate Terrorists, offers a useful framework concerning the choice of weapons by terrorists, within which potential threats from terrorist use of nanoweapons can be considered. – Bryan
Read More for a review.

KurzweilAI.Net: new site discusses Singularity

from the tomorrowland dept.
Bryan Hall writes "Raymond Kurzweil, author of 'The Age of Spiritual Machines' has a new website showcasing the ideas of leading visionaries and breakthrough web technologies. The site is hosted by Ramona, a real-time virtual hostess, using natural language processing, real-time facial animation, and other technologies to answer visitors' questions vocally. Ramona is programmed to verbally explain hundreds of `thoughts' (such as `artificial intelligence') to visitors as well as provide articles, glossary definitions, links, and other information…A major focus of the site is the exponential growth of technology, leading to the 'Singularity,' which Kurzweil described as “future accelerated technological change so rapid and profound that it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history.'' The site's content includes parts of Kurzweil's forthcoming book, “The Singularity is Near.''"

Whitesides still skeptical of Drexler designs

from the read-the-literature dept.
PatrickUnderwood brings to our attention a Reason writeup of the recent AAAS nanotech seminar: "While appreciative of Drexler's pivotal role in nanotech, Whitesides was at pains to disagree with many of his ideas. 'I personally don't think that these kinds of things are going to work,' said Whitesides. 'We already have biological motors'…Whitesides dismissed Drexler's notion of nanotech assemblers…How would one power an assembler, asked Whitesides. How would one get it the information it needs to know what to do? And would it be really be strong enough to break atomic bonds?" CP: How long has Nanosystems been out — eight years, isn't it?…sigh.

Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin Podcast Spotify
0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping

      Search Foresight Institute