[extropy-chat] Smalley, Drexler and the monster in Lake Michigan

[Robert J. Bradbury]

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, Eugen Leitl wrote:

> There's not at all much strain present in the
> structure, but all of it prevents ligation into final shape,
> so it won't happen in a stochastic synthesis.

I'm aware of that.  But I can think of two different
approaches.  (a) attach the rotating wheels to the arms
which are then attached to the head, then ligate the
wheels together so its a fixed structure, then see
if one can get either random or directed activity
to fit the shaft through the wheels, then break the
ligation between the wheels; (b) leave the wheels
free but produce an antibody derived molecule that
holds the wheels in proper alignment to allow the
shaft to be threaded through them.

A third approach might be to synthesize the wheels
attached to the shaft and then to break those links.

I didn't say it would be easy or the yield would be
high -- but an electron micrograph of the FMC would
go a long way towards forcing Smalley to eat crow.

It would also force chemists to wake up and realize
that they just *might* have the tools that would
allow them to design and build a complete assembler
arm.  It will not be easy -- but the payoff would be
so sweet!

Robert