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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Author: Foresight Editor

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.

Artificial Virus within 5 Years

from the bringing-bottom-up-alive dept.
PatrickUnderwood noted a BBC News article "Synthetic Virus Nearing Reality" in which Professor Clyde Hutchinson of the University of North Carolina and The Institute of Genomic Research, speaking at the AAAS meeting, predicts the ability to build a virus from scratch within five years. The article describes how this is a step along the way for the "Minimal Genome Project." The writer spends much of the story trying to link this to concerns about bioweapons, but gets told that "There's enough bad stuff out there now. So far, there is no reason to believe that this technology is going to make things any worse."

Transgenic Crops: A Preview of Nanotech Regulation

from the dealing-with-uncertainty dept.
GregEderer writes "An article running in the current issue of American Scientist "Ecology of Transgenic Crops" presents more evidence to the effect that we simply do not know what the human health and environmental impacts of transgenic crops are likely to be. Nevertheless, the engines of transgenic creation continue to steam right along (e.g., ~15 million acres of Bt corn were planted in the US in 1998, et cetera) as though the risks associated with the technology were fully known. In fact, as Dr. Marvier aptly points out, some of the harmful effects may not become apparent for decades, and could not, therefore, be known ahead of time. If nanotech regulation mirrors the regulation of transgenic crops, then there will be practically no regulation at all. This is bad news for those of us who suspect that there might be some dangers associated with advanced nanotech." Read More for Greg's full comment.

Jurvetson on convergence of info/bio/nanotech

from the not-Microsoft-Office dept.
Senior Associate and well-known VC Steve Jurvetson has a CNET think-piece called "The new convergence: Infotech, biotech and nanotech". The closing: "The best way to create a large and complex system is to grow it. It's not a Microsoft Office install. It's not a brain by design. We are entering a period of a profound learning and expansion of our capabilities in both molecular engineering and information processing. By expanding these capabilities, we further expand our ability to learn. It is a period of exponential growth in the learning-doing cycle in which the power of biology, IT and nanotech compounds the advances in each formerly discrete domain. Despite a human tendency to presume a regression to linearity, the pace of progress will continue to accelerate." In an email, Steve said "Special Thanks to [Senior Associate] Robert Bradbury, who is brilliant on these topics, and helped me a lot." Join Steve at the April 20-22 Gathering.

Bill Joy debate on "terrible empowerment of extreme individuals"

from the glad-I-wasn't-there dept.
An article in the Feb 17 San Jose Mercury News' religion and ethics section entitled Guiding Science covered a debate between Bill Joy and various others including nanotechnologist James Heath: "Bill Joy is once more trumpeting the dangers of technology run amok…" Joy quoted a rabbi: "Zalman said, 'Maybe we should declare that nanotechnology isn't kosher; and maybe the pope should declare it a mortal sin'. I said, 'That's an interesting perspective. Most of the people in my company [Sun Microsystems] don't think like that.' " Heath is quoted as saying that "nanobots" are "science fiction". CP: Sigh — let's have some higher-quality debate on this topic. We'll try at the April 20-22 Foresight meeting.

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