Nanotechnology Acknowledged

I read an article on c/net which describes the semiconductor industry's recognition of nanotechnology as an inevitable step for future chips. They expect to replace current processes in about a decade. I am happy to see them officially recognize the future before it arrives.

Since I read K. Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation in the late 80's, I have been an avid fan of the possibilities afforded by nanotechnology. A few years later the topic became more commonplace in books, television and such. Almost always the presentation betrayed the author's lack of understanding. Although I suppose some could have understood, but ignored their understanding in favor of dramatic storytelling. Either way, the stories almost always centered around a nano-virus that could destroy every living human, or the nana-machines we designed to build our new super-weapons have mutated and become intelligent and are out for revenge, or some similar Frankenstein-style rubbish. I usually did not enjoy those stories.

To me, nanotechnology represents the next great age of technological progress. I can see how our world will change more with the coming of nanotech than it did with the industrial and informational ages combined. Our lives have the potential to be more unrecognizable to us fifty years from now than today is to a person from fifty years ago.

Fifty years ago, the end of 1955, we had Just gotten black and white television, leak-free ball point pens, copy machines were state-of-the-art and only for the wealthy. Elvis had not made a movie yet, Disneyland had opened earlier that year, the polio vaccine had just been invented, scientists were ridiculing anyone who thought man could go to the moon, and plastic was still brand new, hardly anything had it.

A person from that time and place transported to today's american experience would have some heavy-duty culture shock. Some of this has been explored in movies like Forever Young with Mel Gibson and Blast from the Past with Brendan Fraser. My contention is the confusion experienced by these people will be far less than what we would encounter fifty years from now.

I have heard many say the pace of technological improvement must slow down, there is only so much advancement to be made, we have discovered most of what can be learned. Poppycock.

Think outside the box. Nanotechnology is not merely an extension of industrial technology. It is not just some new materials we did not have before. It is the ability to manipulate every single molecule in existence.

Contemplate that. Every single molecule.

My fondest fascination has always been with the least of nanotech's applications: Macro-scale production. When I first read Dr. Drexler's example of how to build a rocket engine, I was hooked. This had nothing to do with my field of study being aerospace at the time. No, this grasped me deeply. Consider this: All the materials you encounter in daily life are compromises. The strongest and best building materials are things like diamond, sapphire and ruby. How many things around are built of such materials? You might actually have something made of carbon fiber, the closest most of us are able to get. Even if it were possible with today's technology to build using such materials, only the most powerful and wealthy would be able to afford such extravagance. With the coming age, such will become commonplace.

Imagine what a car would be like if we could build it out of ideal materials. Even supposing we were foolish enough to run it with current fossil fuels, the vehicle we could build would be fantastic. Replace all the steel, aluminum, and structural components with pure diamond carbon. With the same strength these components are now 90% lighter. Get ultra-conservative and make everything stronger and the end vehicle will only be 80% lighter. Can you imagine what that does to the gas mileage? Oh, and we won't be using oil for plastics, since various combinations of one of our most plentiful elements, carbon, can accomplish all the same tasks and textures. No more need of oil for the engine, either. All those bearings and rods and cams and whatever can be made of reduced friction components or made to tolerances which would not even allow oil between the parts. We'll dump the water cooling system while we're at it. We are no longer relying on steel, so our high-temperature parts can be made of pure sapphire, molecularly bonded to the diamond behind it. Oh, no more need of nuts, bolts, welds and rivets anymore either. Everything can be produced as one seamless piece. Might as well embed wiring, sensors, electronics and fiber optics throughout, too. In the end you have a lightweight, high tech, durable optimized machine. All without using anything we don't already know about.

My point? Apply this kind of concept to every material object in your life, and you have just scratched the surface of what nanotechnology will do for us.