[extropy-chat] Social Implications of Nanotech

[Robin Hanson]

At 12:38 PM 11/10/2003 -0600, Damien Broderick wrote:
> > "Diamond Age" ... 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.

It's been some time since I read it too, but the key point is that they were
near final customers, and so nearly as numerous as customers.

>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.

I want to factor out the social control hypotheses - first I want to understand
the technical/cost possibilities, and then I can evaluate regulatory options.

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

"Mint" has more ordinary connotations, and MNT is ambiguous about plant size
and nearness to customers.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323