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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Month: November 2000

Stu Kauffman's "4th Law" – Investigations

from the complexity-of-complexity dept.
smythe writes "Stuart Kauffman's latest book, Investigations speaks eloquently to what I believe will soon become the central issue in Nanotechnology. Namely, the(self-)organization and management of complexity of collections of atoms, molecules and molecular scale devices. The design of nanoscale devices and materials is about 'organizing atoms'. The Atomasoft coined phrase 'matter will become software' alludes to this but thoroughly underestimates it at the same time. Kauffman collects many ideas from Biology, Mathematics, Complexity Science and Physics proper and provides us with what he suggests what might be an 'adequate description of life itself'.
"Fourth Law" (the lecture)
Investigations (the book)
Investigations (online notes)"

Smart Dust-Spies in the Sky from UC Berkeley

from the he-knows-if-you've-been-bad-or-good dept.
EddieWehri brings our attention to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Yep, yet one more SF concept from books like The Diamond Age make it into prime time. MEMS science is producing dust sized surveillence devices that are lighter than air and float around collecting data and reporting back to the mother base." Excerpt: "Each mote contains a solar cell to generate power, sensors that can be programmed to look for specific information, a tiny computer that can store the information and sort out which data is worth reporting, and a communicator that enables the mote to be 'interrogated' by the base unit…'This is a technology of total surveillance' "

Quantum Dots may yield quantum changes in computer

from the nauseatingly-small dept.
As if nanotechnology won't be enough to deal with, it's looking increasingly as though quantum computers will play a big role in our future. Waldemar Perez writes "Interesting article on patent that could affect Quantum Dot-based electronics and non-linear optical devices for satellite shield protection against laser attacks, from Nebraska University. http://www.unl.edu/pr/science/111400ascifi.html"

First brain-machine interface tested in a monkey

from the we'll-have-wings-in-cyberspace dept.
Waldemar Perez writes "Scientists at Duke University and MIT tested the first ever neuro-implant in a monkey's brain for a brain-machine control interface. The monkey controlled a robotic arm 600 miles away performing such tasks as reaching for food. It holds great promise for prosthetic implants. http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/duke-mca111000.html" Excerpt: " 'One most provocative, and controversial, question is whether the brain can actually incorporate a machine as part of its representation of the body,' [the researcher] said. 'I truly believe that it is possible…If such incorporation of artificial devices works, it would quite likely be possible to augment our bodies in virtual space in ways that we never thought possible,' Nicolelis said."

MEMS news site based on Slash software

from the MEMSdot dept.
For the MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) fans among us, Jonathan Desp brings to our attention MEMS Center, a new MEMS portal based, as is Nanodot, on the Slash news-and-discussion software. Read More for his full post.

Business Week: "It's a Nano World"

from the only-ten-years-to-get-ready dept.
Patrice Clement writes "Just to mention that there is a pretty nice "overview" article about NanoTechnology in BusinessWeek [Nov. 27 issue]…I like the introduction stressing how important "material technology" is. Once this point is made, it becomes "naturally clear" why NanoTech is going to have such a big impact on our lives. The rest of the article goes into giving examples of what kind of researches are being made in the NanoTech field. From what I can tell, the article seems to be pretty accurate." The article ends: "the Nano Age should be in full swing around 2010."

The concept of evil in the nano age

from the bad-guys-shall-always-be-with-ye dept.
From India, Sharad Bailur writes "Frankly I am quite overwhelmed by what I have been reading these last few days beginning with Ed Regis's book, Nano just a few days ago. I had read the Feynman speech of 1969 [CP: make that 1959] some years ago and it seemed an interesting if far out idea and now this. I have ordered for the original Drexler bible Engines of Creation and expect to get it in another three weeks or so. I am interested in how absolute human evil can be dealt with in the nano age. I have a feeling that this is a problem that could turn out much more difficult than the optimistic assessment of most nano scientists."Read More for the rest of Sharad's post.

Buckytubes spun into tough carbon mesh in France

from the can-we-make-the-space-elevator-now? dept.
Bryan Hall writes "An article in Scientific American reports that scientists have developed a new process for spinning continuous carbon fibers and then tie them into tight knots without breaking. The article elaborates: 'Scientists used single-wall carbon nanotubes, in the form of bundles of a few nanotubes, as the raw material in their novel manufacturing process….And because the tubes were all aligned in the direction of flowing solution when they again stuck together, they formed a nanotube mesh. Slowly pulling the mesh from the bath made it collapse into a high-density ribbon. Nanotechnologists have suggested a number of potential applications for such materials over the years, ranging from tethers connecting satellites to Earth to nanotube-based supercapacitors and electrochemically driven artificial muscles. Now they have a seemingly reliable, readily scalable method for producing them.'
The full article shows photos of the process." CP: Thanks also to Robert Trombatore who also submitted this story.

Automated conflict resolution for design process

from the let-the-machine-figure-it-out dept.
The nanotechnology design process can seem overwhelming in its complexity. Fortunately, efforts are already underway to automate the identification and resolution of design conflicts in today's systems, such as work by Shimon Nof at Purdue: "The aim is to create software tools that not only identify conflicts in advance but also describe fine details about the nature of those conflicts to better pinpoint a resolution. So far, experimental results have shown that such software tools are capable of eliminating the 'dependency on humans to execute critical design tasks' needed to resolve conflicts that arise in facility design, Nof says in a research paper about the work."

Alcor offering vitrification — nanotech not needed?

from the glass-not-ice dept.
sjvan writes "Alcor is now planning on vitrifying rather than freezing all new neurosuspension patients. This represents a major improvement in the quality of preservation, and consequently the probability of recovery. Look here for more details." CP: In that piece, Fred Chamberlain writes that this new procedure may eliminate the need for molecular nanotechnology in reviving these patients.

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