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THE
NANOTECHNOLOGY
AGE
ATOMIC PRECISION:
What is Nanotechnology?
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INTRODUCTION
MEDICINE
COMPUTERS
MATERIALS
VIRTUAL REALITY
MILITARY
ENERGY
ECONOMICS
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8. DANGERS
9. THE FUTURE
10. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
Definition: Nanotechnology, "the
manufacturing technology of the 21st century," is
defined as the understanding and control of matter at
dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers
(billionths of a meter, or 10 m.) A nanometer (nm)
is one-billionth of a meter, or a millionth of a
millimeter - smaller than the wavelength of visible
light and a hundred-thousandth the width of a human
hair. At this scale, unique properties of materials
emerge which can be applied to produce technologies
and products with entirely new abilities and
applications. At the nanoscale, physical, chemical,
optical and electrical properties of materials differ
from the properties of matter at either smaller scales,
such as atoms, or at the larger scales of the "middle
world" that we humans inhabit. Nanotechnology
(NT) involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and
manipulating matter only a few nanometers in size.
The
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of the space inside an atom is occupied by vacuum it is completely empty. We think of atoms as solid,
however even the sub-atomic particles that make up
the entire mass of the atom are not 'solid' in any
traditional sense of the word. Collectively, groups of
atoms fit together in various discrete ways to form
molecules. For the purpose of simplification when
dealing with individual atoms we can think of and
treat them as elementary spheres.
Atoms are the Lego blocks of the Universe,
out of which any physical thing can be built.
Nanotech will make feats that seem entirely
impossible to us today, become commonplace in the
world of tomorrow. Nature already uses
nanotechnology in the molecular machinery of every
living thing. Nature's designs are working examples
to us of what can be made. However, rather than
using trial and error, we can apply intelligent design
principles to our creations.
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MEDICINE
Medicine is probably one of the most exciting
areas for potential applications of nanoscience and
technology. Such current givens as disease and even
aging itself promise to be overturned. Disease and ill
health are caused largely by damage at the cellular
and molecular level. Today's finest surgical tools are,
at this scale, large and crude.
The medical nanorobot (nanobot for short) is
expected to become the ultimate tool of
nanomedicine. A nanobot is a still theoretical robot
the size of a bacterium, composed of molecular-size
parts, such as gears, bearings, and ratchets. "Medical
nanorobotics holds the greatest promise for curing
disease and extending health span. With diligent
effort, the first fruits of medical nanorobotics could
begin to appear in clinical treatment as early as the
2020s." - Robert A. Freitas Jr.
The human body and mind, though extremely
impressive, and still the most complex thing we
know of in the observable universe, in fact leave
considerable room for improvement. Evolution has
slowly but persistently worked for billions of years to
create creatures that are capable of carrying on its
legacy of incremental complexification. Artificial red
blood cells called respirocytes, for instance, could
store and transport 236 times more oxygen than a
natural red blood cell, and would be only a fraction
of the size. Computers can potentially be 1012 times
smaller and use 106 times less power than they do
today.
"Nanotechnology should let us
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COMPUTERS
"Nanotechnology will let us build computers that are
incredibly powerful. We'll have more power in the
volume of a sugar cube than exists in the entire world
today." - Ralph Merkle
Nanocomputers are expected to become the
logical successors to today's
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microcomputers/microprocessors. A supercomputer
today that takes up a large building and uses over 10
MW of power could potentially be shrunk down to
less than a cubic millimeter in volume and use less
than 2 W of power to do the same amount of
processing with maximally efficient molecular
nanocomputing. The oft-cited "Moore's Law," (which
states that the number of transistors that can
inexpensively be put in an integrated circuit doubles
roughly every 18-24 months,) and is expected to
continue its exponential progression for roughly 20
years longer until it reaches the fundamental barrier
(for now) of the atom, will lead us to the
nanocomputer.
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MATERIALS
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VIRTUAL REALITY
In the short-term, the level of simulated realism
delivered through Head Mounted Displays (HMD)
will likely approach the point of visual believability.
Current technologies such as head-tracking and
haptic suits are round-about methods of achieving
simulated reality.
Audio: You may think that "surround sound"
audio technology is about as good as it can get,
however there is room for improvement. Holophony
(or holophonic sound) is an existing audio recording
technique that uses the principles of holographics but
applied to sound to recreate the impression of a
sound source 360 degrees around you as well as any
position above or below. Omnidirectional
microphones are used to enable the recreation of both
the shape and direction of sound wavefronts,
resulting in realistic, lifelike, three-dimensional
sounding audio recordings.
Current technological abilities lend themselves
well to simulating sight and sound with reasonably
high-fidelity, but they do nothing to address the other
three senses. In order to render a more believable
overall virtual environment, tactile (haptic) feedback
and simulated smells will be required. Virtual Taste
will require direct manipulation of the brain through
either invasive or non-invasive means. Touch, taste
and smell simulation will become much more
effective and economically viable for commercial
applications than today's crude approaches as a direct
result of nanotech advances.
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MILITARY
Faster, smaller, lighter computers produced
with nanocircuitry will enable a wide variety of novel
applications across all areas of military technology.
Complete electronic systems will fit into a cubic
millimeter or smaller volume making them extremely
portable. Sophisticated electronics are expected to be
implemented in almost every area of the military,
being integrated into pallets, boxes, transport
containers, and all equipment from rifles,
ammunition, glasses and even clothing. A
supercomputer by today's standards, built with
molecular electronics circuitry, could easily be fit
into a standard rifle bullet to intelligently guide it to
the target. Computing is expected to become
integrated into virtually every object, imbuing
intelligence and enabling intercommunication
between devices and soldiers.
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ENERGY
Nanotech will work on several fronts to greatly
increase available power from sustainable generation
while lowering the cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
Much of the power generated today is wasted in
transmission from a centralized generation plant to
the end-user, or does not get used for the desired
purpose due to inefficiencies. NT again is able to
offer solutions to these issues. Decentralized energy
increases reliability and security, and perhaps most
significantly, puts land to better use.
Wind and solar power are perhaps the first
sustainable methods of generating power to come to
mind, however there are many others. Today's silicon
solar panels are crude, heavy, bulky, fragile,
inefficient and expensive. With NT addressing every
one of these issues, solar may become the top pick
for clean and sustainable worldwide power
generation. NT is also advancing battery technology
to allow much higher capacity, more durable cells to
be manufactured less expensively. Newer
technologies such as ultracapacitors may take over
completely from batteries because of their potential
for much higher discharge rates, decreased recharge
times and greater number of possible cycles. Current
ultracapacitors have an energy density that is only
about 1/10,000th the volumetric energy density of
gasoline, however they have the potential to be
greatly improved, whereas gasoline has a fixed
energy density and is non-renewable.
Cost steers the direction we take with regard to
energy generation and storage, and for most of the
history of transportation and industrial/domestic
energy use, oil and gas have been the #1 pick for
inexpensive and highly concentrated power. NT will
start to make better, alternative power sources cost
competitive and eventually much less expensive than
traditional oil/gas. Even before prices reach par,
many people and industries will make the switch out
of concern for the environment etc. Ultimately the
use of fossil fuels will be all but entirely phased out hopefully well before they run out.
Current-day battery technology tops out at an
energy density of ~360 Wh/kg. Gasoline, by
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ECONOMICS
It is prudent to consider the possible economic
outcomes of the accelerated emergence of this very
advanced technology. Even partial realization of the
potentials of NT over the coming decades has the
potential to forever alter the structure of society,
business and economics. NT will affect all aspects of
economics: employment, wages, purchasing, etc.
Nanotechnology dismantles certainty so effectively
that not even death or taxes are safe.
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DANGERS
Nanotechnologyposesmajorrisks
intermsofbothabuseandaccidents.It
grantsusthepowertoabsolutely
annihilateourselvesandourbeautiful
planet.Rightnow,whilethepaceofthis
technologicalingressionintoeverdeeper
complexityistheslowestitwilleveragain
be,wemustgetaheadofthereleaseof
newNTproductswitharegulatorysystem
thattrulyworksandstayaheadofit
permanently.Nowisthetimetobegin,
notafterthefirstcasualtiesof
unregulatedNTareseen.Wemustplan
todaytomeetthechallengesoftomorrow
orwemayfindourselvesplayinga
desperateanddifficultgameofcatchup.
THE FUTURE
The final frontier, it seems, will not be the
vastness of space, but the ultra-miniscule realm of the
atoms. As we approach the fundamental physical
limits of what can be done with the matter in the
Universe, truly magical opportunities await us. Ray
Kurzweil has shown that our technology now doubles
its capabilities every 12 months. This yearly
exponential (inverse of logarithmic) growth in the
form of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024,
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Transhumanism + Posthumanism
Transhumanism refers to a mind with perhaps
three or four times the cognitive (computational)
capacity of a human. Posthumanism refers to an
evolution beyond that of transhumanism.
The Environment
Technology in its early, imperfect form - the
only form we have seen so far - has been a mostly
negative force on the environment. Molecular
Nanotechnology (MNT) will produce effectively no
waste and not involve any cutting, grinding, sanding,
melting, forging, or herding of large numbers of
unruly atoms. Nanocomputers will ultimately control
the direct "printing" of any item via an assembler
straight from data using pure feedstock atoms or
molecules. MNT will make exactly what it is
expected to make - no more, no less - and
therefore no pollution. Matter will be used more
efficiently by this technology and put to much better
use; rather than just taking up mass and space,
objects will become multi-functional, intelligent and
atomically precice. Our burning of fossil fuels as a
crude source of energy has put enough carbon into
the atmosphere to be recycled into a vast number of
useful products. Atmospheric carbon scrubbing nanofilters could be inexpensively employed to harvest
the excess carbon from the air for use as a feedstock
material.
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CONCLUSION
A Nanotech Future?
The extent to which molecular nanotechnology
has the potential to reshape our world, down to the
most fundamental levels of possibility is truly
revolutionary, in every sense of the word. Assuming
advanced molecular nanotechnology becomes a
reality, which it appears is a virtual certainty at this
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steve@nano.ms
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