[extropy-chat] Social Implications of Nanotech

[Damien Broderick]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robin Hanson" <rhanson at gmu.edu>
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 12:12 PM

> Another opinion that I've heard has more distinct social implications,
> though I'm not sure how many people (still?) take it seriously.  It is
> described in the novel "Diamond Age" and in several books by Drexler and
> company.  In that vision, future manufacturing becomes much like how PCs
> are used today.  People have personal general manufacturing devices (PGMD,
> I'll call them) close to home, and most consumer goods are produced
locally
> on PGMDs, via downloaded designs and a few general feedstocks.

It's some time since I read DIAMOND AGE, but as I recall matter compilers
were almost exactly NOT like PCs or microwave ovens; they were large
`mainframe-like' gadgets more akin to ATMs. This was (I think) a social
control mechanism, as well as a security precaution against random crackers
compiling Sarin gas, machine guns, etc. This might well be what we'd expect
to see if Drextech-ish molecular manufacture arrives in the next 15-30
years.

(BTW, I still prefer and recommend my term `mint', from Molecular
Nanotechnology or MNT, to an unpronounceable acronym like `PGMD'.)

Damien Broderick