[ExI] Scientific American special issue on Nanotechnology

[ben]

Anyone else read this?

Maybe i'm overreacting, but i thought the last article, by Graham P 
Collings, was a pretty disgraceful attempt to imply that Molecular 
Manufacturing, as described in 'Engines of Creation', is pure fantasy, 
with no scientific credibility at all.

The whole article is about science fiction stories, with occasional 
reference to "Drexler's Imaginings" as inspiration for them. Which is 
fair enough, if this had been a literary magazine. But it's not. It's 
supposed to be about science, not literature.

I read the sub-text of the article as "Don't believe a word of what this 
guy says, it's just science fiction".

He finishes the article with:

"The ongoing state of /real/ nanotechnology research, for the most part, 
has little to do with how the details used in fiction evolve over time. 
The science of science fiction lives in a parallel world to our reality, 
and what is known to be true or possible in our reality is mirrored only 
fitfully. And we wouldn't want it any other way."

The whole thing is a smear job.

ben z