[extropy-chat] Wired article on Drexler

[Amara Graps]

Hal Finney
>The October issue of Wired magazine has a fascinating article on
>Eric Drexler, by Ed Regis, 
[...]
>It is a sad article on the decline in the status of Drexler and his ideas for
>molecular manufacturing.  
[...]
>Drexler's personal situation is described as quite shaky:

>   Drexler's rejection by the scientific and political establishments
>   comes at a particularly bad moment. Last year, he divorced Christine
>   Peterson, his wife of 21 years and president of his nonprofit think
>   tank, the Foresight Institute.... Never a rich man, Drexler is barely
>   solvent. He recently moved from his three-bedroom ranch house in
>   Silicon Valley into a modest apartment.

>It's unfortunate that he is dealing with personal 

This is old news. They split two years ago. Then and now, Eric
(and Christine): on friendly terms and no crisis. And for many many
months Eric has been seeing someone else. Hardly a crisis.

>and professional crises
>at the same time, but keep in mind that it's common for divorced men to
>move into smaller apartments at first. 

and divorced women

It is useful to point out that the Silicon Valley is one of the
most expensive places in the world to live.

>I am confident that a man with
>Drexler's talents is not going to end up as a pauper, the way Regis
>seems to paint him.

I haven't seen the article, but I'm sorry for people's misunderstandings
about Drexler. I think, though, that Eric will weather it.

Amara
-- 
Amara Graps, PhD     www.amara.com
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI)
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), 
Adjunct Assistant Professor Astronomy, AUR, 
Roma, ITALIA     Amara.Graps at ifsi.rm.cnr.it