[extropy-chat] Social Implications of Nanotech

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Mon Nov 17 11:02:08 UTC 2003


On Sun, Nov 16, 2003 at 08:29:48PM -0600, Damien Broderick, channelling 
Dr Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis, wrote:

> < I go for number 1 - the assembler still resides in the fiction domain and
> the science needs to be cracked before it will proceed. that is also the
> reason why a company like Zyvex, who is backing this concept, is focusing on
> the macro then micro versions, to try and get the principles right. >

I would rather agree with this statement, adding a footnote: that it's not only science
(a library of experimentally validated machine-phase reactions) but also
technology (implementation of a nanolithoprinter) utilizing such reactions to
deposit a rich set of structures, with a sufficiently high processivity for it
to make copies of itself, and a number of other devices.

A scientist is not an engineer, typically. The set of reactions are worthless
all by itself, if there's no design, and no viable bootstrap pathway from here to
there. 

-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
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