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Gaming the Future: The Book!

Results for ""molecular nanotechnology""

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Taking advantage of accelerating technological change

from the taking-the-long-view dept.
Many Worlds, a website devoted to technology-related business and investment information, has posted an interesting white paper on "Tracking Emerging Technologies and Trends: Taking Advantage of Technological Acceleration". (Note: this link is to an Adobe Acrobat PDF file of the report, not a web page.)
"We are on the cusp of a breakout in technological acceleration, a discontinuity in human history," the report states. "It will affect business along with the culture as a whole." And it offers some sound advice: "Those businesses that can most effectively grasp the deep undercurrents of technological evolution can use this to their advantage."
After considering a wide variety of emerging technologies, including molecular nanotechnology, nanmedicine and more, the report concludes: "Looking through the technologies noted above, it will become obvious that numerous technological convergences are occurring . . . The once-separate worlds of hardware and software are beginning to blur together to some degree. As matters grows in intelligence with the spread of embedded processors, wireless tracking, and ubiquitous computing, it becomes responsive to human desires and commands. Matter is increasingly becoming programmable like software. If the promises of molecular nanotechnology are realized, this process will be completed."

Nanotechnology and the Environment

from the think-green dept.
Glenn Reynolds, professor of law at the University of Tennessee and a member of the Foresight board of directors, has writen an essay titled "Environmental Regulation of Nanotechnology: Some Preliminary Observations", which appeared in the June 2001 issue of the Environmental Law Reporter.

As Glenn notes in his introduction, "This all-too-brief essay will outline the basic nature of molecular nanotechnology. It will then discuss the likely environmental benefits … and harms … of this technology, and at least seek to begin the discussion of how nanotechnology might be dealt with in a way that will maximize the environmental benefits — which are likely to be enormous — while minimizing the potential harms, which, if allowed to materialize, are likely to be large as well."

The essay is available on the Foresight Institute web site, as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (~112 KB), and is posted with the permission of the journal's publisher, the Environmental Law Institute in Washington, D.C.

McKendree MNT & Space Dissertation Accepted

from the congratulations! dept.
Tom McKendree writes "I am extremely happy to announce that last week I passed the defense of my Ph.D. dissertation at USC, on the subject of "Technical and Operational Assessment of Molecular Nanotechnology for Space Operations". This is a rewrite of my earlier dissertation draft, making molecular nanotechnology for space the explicit central focus of the document. The basic conclusion, that systems designed and built to atomic precision can outperform current technology for space operations, should not be a surprise to this audience. The heartening aspects are that I was able to substantiate this conclusion in much more detail, and that I was able to convince a dissertation committee of six, including five lecturing professors at USC, that this was sufficiently credible and important to deserve a Ph.D."

IMM Prizes in computational nanotechnology

from the Preparing-future-technologies dept.
The Institute for Molecular Manufacturing will offer four new annual prizes in computational nanotechnology, one each in the fields of design, analysis, rendering, and simulation. The Prizes will be presented in person at the annual Feynman Prize presentation ceremony at the Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology. The four winning projects each year will automatically be nominated for the next Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theoretical).
The goal of this program is rapid advance and iteration, so the IMM Prizes do not require journal publication. Incremental improvements to prior designs, including those originally produced by others, are explicitly encouraged.
Special consideration will be given for analysis or designs that contribute to system security or component mechanisms designed specifically to prevent abuse (refer to the Foresight Guidelines on Molecular Nanotechnology for several specific mechanisms). This consideration may not come up in the early days of the Prizes, but is expected to be increasingly important as designs advance.

Details are available on the IMM website.

An overview article from Mechanical Engineering

from the engineering-the-future dept.
Mechanical Engineering Magazine continues its year-long series focusing on nanotechnology. The latest installment ("Not without engineering," April 2001) is recommended by Giff Constable, who saw a notice about it in Tim Harperís TNT Weekly newsletter. GC writes: "For those heavily involved in nanotech issues, it will be old hat, but I thought it was one of the better written overviews I've seen, speaking as the non-scientist I am. The article was written by Arun Majumdar (professor and vice chair for instruction in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley [and] also member of the ASME Nanotechnology Steering Committee).
Note: The above URL may change. You can access the Mechancial Engineering Magazine site at http://www.memagazine.org.

This series emphasizes the growing interest in a variety of engineering disciplines in the challenges of developing molecular nanotechnology. Past articles in the ME series appeared in the January and February, issues.

Alternate pathways to assemblers?

from the Many-roads dept.
SteveLenhert at About.com writes of an item posted there that looks at an alternate approach to developing an assembler:"This essay ("Are you a Self-Assembler?") discusses an approach towards molecular nanotechnology that does not require self-replicating assemblers and can be realized using available biotechnology."

There is a related item on the site that addresses some of the same issues.

Article profiles nanotechnology work at Cornell University

from the Up-close-and-personal dept.
Cornell Magazine recently ran an article that gives an in-depth survey of the nanotechnology-related research programs at Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y. (ìSize Matters,î by Beth Saulnier, Jan/Feb 2001). Cornell is home to the Nanobiotechnology Center and the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility. While acknowledging the pioneering roles of Richard Feynman and Eric Drexler in the field, the article also contains some rather disparaging remarks from Cornell researchers who remain skeptical of the long-term potential of molecular nanotechnology. Still, itís an interesting look at the people, facilities, research and outlook at one of the major nanotechnology research institutions in the United States.

Boeing VP Dreams of Nanotechnology

from the Poetry-in-action dept.

Senior Associate Paul Melnyk calls our attention to a forward-looking address ("Dream to Make Something Happen") delivered by David O. Swain, Senior VP of Engineering & Technology for The Boeing Company, and also president of Phantom Works, the research and development organization of the company. The talk was delivered last October at the ASM International Materials Solutions Conference.
"Nanoscale science and engineering most likely will produce the strategic technology breakthroughs of tomorrow," Swain said. "Our ability to work at the molecular level, atom by atom, to create something new, something we could manufacture from the 'bottom up,' opens up huge vistas . . . There are huge possibilities." Swain concluded his address with a "call for action." He said: "I believe in what poet Carl Sandburg wrote: 'Nothing happens unless you first dream.' We need to dream again. Dream about new formulas, new metals, new materials. Dream about nanoscience, nanoengineering, nanotechnology. Dream about the possibilities, the opportunities, and then make our dreams come true. Then, and only then, can we unlock exciting frontiers with our discoveries."

ASM is a society for professionals concerned with industry, technology and applications of metals and materials, and has over 40,000 members who are engineers, managers, scientists, researchers, teachers, students, marketers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers. The Institute for Molecular Manufacturing co-sponsored a special session dedicated to molecular nanotechnology at the same conference. Swain's address and the IMM-sponsored session helped provide an overview of molecular nanotechnology to a part of the materials community that has been largely insulated from progress in this area.

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.

East coast Foresight?

from the spreading-geographically dept.
Anonymous Thinker writes "I would like to ask if foresight is planning on having events on the east coast? If not I would like propose starting a local chapter here in Atlanta. The Georgia Institute of Technology has an excellent research center for Nanotechnology and I think that it would be an ideal place to begin spreading and discussing the benifits of nanotechnology on the east coast. thanks, G-Man" CP: The current plan is to alternate U.S. coasts for the Foresight Conferences on Molecular Nanotechnology (East in 2000, West in 2001, etc.). Regarding local chapters, we suggest setting up Nanotechnology Study Groups at universities. Georgia Tech would indeed be a good place to have one of these.

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