Foresight Update 30
Page 5
A publication of the Foresight Institute
 Recent
Events
Extropy Institute Conference
Extropy Institute is an
organization devoted to the use of technology to overcome human
limits, including extending life span, augmenting intelligence
(both cognitive and emotional), gaining access to space, and
achieving control over human biology. The organization's third
conference, Extro
3, was held August 9 and 10 in San Jose. The second day's
program, "Future Infrastructure," involved many
speakers associated with nanotechnology and Foresight Institute.
IMM Research Fellow and
Foresight chairman K. Eric
Drexler delivered the keynote address for the conference,
"How to be Cautious and Conservative." His main thesis:
enrolling in a cryonics program is the most medically
conservative approach a person can take—the alternatives
(such as burial or burning of a body) foreclose future medical
treatment to repair the injury or disease that led to cessation
of life functions. He also discussed the need for improved
exchange of information, and demonstrated Foresight Institute's Web Enhancement efforts.
A five-person discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI Onset
Panel: Continuity or Singularity?) featured four Foresight
participants—MIT's Marvin
Minsky; Carl Feynman
of Arts Technology Group; Robin Hanson of
the University of the California at Berkeley (whose Idea
Futures concept has been discussed in past issues of Update),
and nanotechnologist Ralph
Merkle of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Minsky said the
largest problem today is that most AI researchers are not working
on the essential "common sense" problems that most need
addressing. Participants agreed that AI is achievable, and think
it most likely will appear suddenly (as a "Singularity")
rather than gradually. (Rationale: when computers reach a certain
stage of ability, they will be able to design their own successor
faster than humans could.)
Discussions of a four-person panel on "Investing in the
Future" were highlighted by nanotechnology author Gayle
Pergamit, who said that the AI Singularity will be the
key—"getting to it, through it, and beyond it."
She discussed the difficulty of analyzing in advance the nature
of post-singularity society and economics.
Chris Peterson, Executive
Director of Foresight Institute, spoke on "Radical High-Tech
Environmentalists," telling the audience that it is wrong to
equate high technology with pollution. "We need to promote
the recognition that high technology is clean technology,"
she said, noting that Second-World economies such as China
produce more pollution than high-tech economies like the U.S. She
also discussed bio-archiving
to store cell samples of all species to allow analysis of DNA and
evolutionary processes.
Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conference
Cambridge
Healthtech Institute, a for-profit company that stages
topic-specific conferences, held a two-day event in San Francisco
in late June on "Nanotechnology: Materials, Manufacturing
and Applications." Al Globus,
cochair of the Foresight
Conference on Nanotechnology, attended the conference and
reported that the conference included a number of quality
presentations, mostly more focused on near-term experimental
topics, and quite a bit of MEMS (Micro Electrical Mechanical
Systems) developments.
One specific presentation relevant to molecular nanotechnology
was a talk by Dr. James Tour
of the University of South Carolina on 2-terminal, 3-terminal and
4-terminal devices actually synthesized (not modeled) using
carbon rings. Tour has measured the properties of the 2- terminal
devices and calculated results for the more complex ones, Globus
reported.
Other presentations included the growing ability to marry silicon
chip technology with biotechnology, creating arrays of
biomolecules that can be addressed with chip electronics. When
the molecules come in contact with certain chemicals, their
electrical properties change, and that change can be sensed
through the chip technology, Globus said.
Cambridge Healthtech Institute has removed all information about
the conference from its web site, but is offering binders
containing conference information for sale for $100. Cambridge
Healthtech Institute is located at 1037 Chestnut St., Newton
Upper Falls, MA 02164. tel: 617.630.1300 fax: 617.630.1325
e-mail: chi@healthtech.com
Finnish
Nanotechnology Program
 Nanotechnology is
entering a period of rapid development in Finland. TEKES, the
Technology Development Centre of Finland, and the Academy of
Finland have joined forces to launch an ambitious program, which
started in early 1997. The first phase of the program will last
for three years.
In a brochure describing the three-year, $9 million program, they
describe nanotechnology as "the way to the future,"
noting that it "has the potential to bring about radical
improvements in many sectors of industry. It could also give rise
to entirely new industries and it is a challenging field of
research which covers many disciplines."
Various research groups all over Finland will carry out the bulk
of the work. Because of the cross-disciplinary nature of the
projects, the research groups will work very closely together.
The Finns also recognize that "global cooperation is of
extreme importance, and therefore multilateral connections to
parallel programs will be encouraged." A delegation
representing the program visited Foresight Institute's office in
early August.
Areas of study include:
Nanobiology—Suitable surfaces will be
functionalized by antibodies or DNA. The main aim is to develop
specific diagnostic applications based on fluorescence detection.
The applications are in protein analytics and hereditary
diseases.
Self organized structures—Self organized
polymeric structures are prepared and studied. Polymer chains
will be modified in order to be able to control their behavior.
Important issues are molecular recognition, controlled phase
transitions and rheology.
Functional nanoparticles—Studies of noble
metal particles and their properties on metal surfaces, as well
as the utilization of an aerosol reactor to yield multi-component
nanomaterials which are mainly for medical applications.
Nanoelectronics—Study of nanodimensional
electronic devices and sensors such as novel lasers, single
electron transistors, SQUIDS and nanothermometers. Various
manufacturing methods are being studied and developed.
Biomaterials for information technology—This
project includes the development of materials for these purposes
and algorithms for molecular computing. One specific task is to
develop a sensor based on surface plasmon resonance.
Contact Information:
Nanoelectronics Project Manager—Oiva
Knuuttila, Technology Development Centre Tekes, P.O.Box 69
FIN-00101 Helsinki Finland, Tel. +358.105 215 815, Fax
+358.105.215.906, E-mail: Oiva.Knuuttila@tekes.fi
Nanochemistry Senior Technical Adviser—Jussi
Kivikoski, Technology Development Centre Tekes, P.O. Box 69
FIN-00101 HELSINKI Finland, Tel. +358.105.215.828, Fax
+358.105.215.905, E-mail: Jussi.Kivikoski@tekes.fi
Scientific Secretary—Eeva Ikonen, Academy
of Finland Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering,
P.O.Box 99 FIN-00510 Helsinki Finland, Tel. +358.9.7748.8233, Fax
+358.9.7748.8393, E-mail: Eeva.Ikonen@aka.fi
Upcoming
Events
Albany
Conference on Biomolecular Motors and Nanomachines, Sept.
4-7. Contact Wadsworth Center, tel 518.474.2462, email
tracy@wadsworth.org
Micro-
and Nano-Engineering International Conference, Sept.
15-18, Athens, Greece. Includes Nobel laureate Heinrich Rohrer on
"Nanotechnology-Nature's Way." tel +30.1.653.3781, fax
+30.1.651.1723, evgog@cyclades.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr
Int'l
Workshop on Nanophysics and Electronics, Sept. 18-20,
Tokyo. Includes atomically-ordered structures.
American Vacuum Society Annual
Meeting, Oct 20-24, San Jose, CA. Includes nanoscale
science & technology. tel 212.248.0200, fax 212.248.0245,
email avsnyc@vacuum.org
Fifth Foresight
Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology, Nov. 5-8, Palo
Alto, CA. Enabling science and technology, computational models.
Contact Foresight, tel 415.917.1122, fax 415.917.1123, email
foresight@foresight.org
7th Int'l Symposium on
Molecular Electronics and Biocomputing, Nov. 10-12,
Nanjing, PR China. tel +86.25.361.9983, fax +86.25.771.2719,
email zhlu@seu.edu.cn
Molecular Electronics: Science
and Technology, Dec. 14-18, Puerto Rico. Molecular wires,
switches, devices; self-assembly; SPM manipulation. Engineering
Foundation, tel 212.705.7836, fax 212.705.7441, email
engfnd@aol.com
4th Int'l
Conference on Nanostructured Materials, June 14-18, 1998,
Stockholm.
Superlattices, Microstructures, and Microdevices, July
27-Aug 1, 1998, Egypt. Includes nanostructures, nanotubes,
self-assembly. Contact Khalid Ismail, IBM Watson, Rt 134,
Yorktown Hts, NY 10598.
Fifth Int'l Conference
on Nanometer-scale Science and Technology, Aug 31-Sept 4,
1998, Birmingham, UK. Contact Institute of Physics, tel
+44.171.470.4800, fax +44.171.470.4900, email ivc98@iop.org
2nd Intl. Conference on
Evolvable Systems: From Biology to Hardware, Sept. 24-26,
1998. Lausanne, Switzerland. Self-replicating hardware,
self-repairing hardware, applications of nanotechnology. Email
Moshe.Sipper@di.epfl.ch
Sixth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology,
Nov. 12-15, 1998, Santa Clara, CA. Enabling science and
technology, computational models. See Foresight contact info
above.
First ELBA-Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology,
spring 1999, Rome. Contact ELBA Foundation, tel
+39.6.35420728, fax +39.6.35451637, Email elbafound@nexis.it
From Foresight Update 30, originally
published 1 September 1997.
|