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Book Review On
 NANOFUTURE: What’s Next for Nanotechnology?
By J. Storrs HallAileen Grace Delima September 6, 2007 I. SummaryEric Drexler coined the word nanotechnology by analogy to microtechnology. By mid1990’s, nanotechnology started showing up in science fiction, popular scientific and technical publications that brings so much confusion to the people. Nanotechnology is defined intonanoscale and eutactic technology which does not physically exist today.Technology is changing. Nanotechnology is specifically the technology we predictwhen technological progress goes beyond atomic physics. The road to technology was a moreor less straightforward extension of biotechnology and like a five-mile race of differentcountries. But where are we now?Currently we are in biology and lab nanoscience stage. Nanomachines are going to beamong the most complex things that have ever designed. Autogenous technology if theyexisted is able to build more machines like themselves but it depends on scaling laws. Butthere is no such thing as free lunch. Why bother to build molecular machines? Atomic scale iswhere matter is digital; they don’t wear out.In the age of nanotech, household synthesizers will be available; clothing will bemade of nanofibers; houses underwater. In 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a mile-hightower that could accommodate one hundred thousand people. With nanotech, maybe up to a billion could be housed. But personal responsibility is disputed because of the tendency tomake drugs or weapons in home synthesizers.Space colonization, space agriculture, skyhook concept and pier for spaceshipsrepresented solutions to quite a few of the world’s problems as seen from the 1970s. Thisincludes population crisis and hunger, pollution, and to some extent war. At its height, it
 
could have been called a movement by 10,000 member L5 society and numerous publicfigures. By 2050 nanotech will make possible dwellings in space that is completely self-sufficient.Back in 1940s, robot was designed after an animal by Asimov. Robots will abound for whatever there is to be done including utility fog. Tremendous monopoly is a major concern.It engenders poor quality as well as high prices. But the general population could have by notmore than the price of raw materials. Farming and manufacturing comprise 30% as replaced by automation since 1900; the rest is information handling and services. The main horror of the socialist vision is that it makes people part of a machine. We must make sure that we arethe masters of robots than their slaves.In September 1984, AI mania was at its peak. Building an AI program is hard; it ismuch more like building a brain. Asimo, the famous Honda robot in the shape of human was primitive by standards of animals. Nevertheless, the design of more complex machines willcontinue to be possible but needs full understanding.About 10% less sunlight reaches the ground today than in 1950. Haze comes fromindustrial effluents and biomass burning. In the future, clean-up will be done by aerovoresand skysweepers.In the twentieth century, the cause of human disaster that clearly stood out above allthe others was war. Al Qaeda attacked the Twin Tower last September 11, 2001. Personal air-craft simply could not have brought the towers down. Further, nanoweapon could easilytarget politicians and war would decline. Unlike biotechnology, it is already here and easier tohide than nanotech. That’s why it could possibly create superflu, madcow prion on chickensand deadly anthrax as biological warfare.In 1890 heart disease and cancer killed 170 people per 100,000 per year. In 1990 thefigure was 514. Drugs came along but drawbacks are also attached to them. With
 
nanomedicine we can live long and prosper. Transhumanism is another perspective of humanimprovement. Crime strongly correlated to low IQ would vanish.Technology extended their power and gave them mastery over the world. It both helpsand hurts. Nanotechnology offers frontiers in many directions. The solution to crowding andresource depletion is clearly to move into outer space. People need challenge for the betterment. But it is still a matter of individual choice.II. The Author John Storrs Hall is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers in the field of molecular nanotechnology. He founded the sci.nanotech Usenet newsgroup and moderated itfor ten years. He has written several papers on nanotechnology. Dr. Hall is the chief scientistof Nanorex Inc., fellow of the Molecular Engineering Research Institute and Research Fellowof the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing. Dr. Hall is something of a poet and hascomposed verse concerning nanotechnology. In 2006, the Foresight Nanotech Instituteawarded Hall the Feynman Communication prize. He graduated cum laude with the degree of B.A. in Mathematics at Drew University last 1976 along with other awards. Then he took M.S. in Computer Science at Rutgers University and continued Ph.D. in Computer Science atthe same university last 1994.His contributions have been fairly eclectic, coming in a number of fields. Thisincludes the physics of computation, algorithms, computer architecture, programminglanguages, AI and design automation, agoric systems, nanotechnology and futurism andmachine ethics.The confusion about nanotechnology brought up by science fiction was one of hismotivations in writing the book. Other aspects included the problems such as population
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