K. Eric Drexler
Founder: Forseight Institute
Dr. Drexler is a researcher concerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. In the mid 1980s, he introduced the term 'nanotechnology' to describe atomically precise molecular manufacturing systems and their products. Advanced nanotechnologies will make possible many dreams (and nightmares) first articulated in the literature of science fiction.
After presenting the basic concepts of molecular manufacturing in a scientific paper (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1981), he wrote Engines of Creation (1986) to introduce a broad audience to the prospect of advanced nanotechnologies -- their nature, promise, and dangers -- and Nanosystems (AAP 1992 Most Outstanding Computer Science Book) to provide a graduate-level introduction to the fundamental physical and engineering principles of the field.
He has lectured in the US, Europe, and Japan to audiences ranging from corporate research laboratories and the World Economic Forum to a satellite-linked network of elementary school classes. In support of U.S. federal policy development, he has provided presentations and briefings to (among others) the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
He is a founder and current Chairman of the Foresight Institute, a nonprofit educational organization established to help prepare for advanced technologies.
http://www.sciam.com...901drexler.html
Machine-Phase Nanotechnology
A molecular nanotechnology pioneer predicts that the tiniest robots
will revolutionize manufacturing and transform society
By K. Eric Drexler
In 1959 physicist Richard Feynman gave an after-dinner talk exploring the limits of miniaturization. He set out from known technology (at a time when an adding machine could barely fit in your pocket), surveyed the limits set by physical law and ended by arguing the possibility-even inevitability-of "atom by atom" construction.
What at the time seemed absurdly ambitious, even bizarre, has recently become a widely shared goal. Decades of technological progress have shrunk microelectronics to the threshold of the molecular scale, while scientific progress at the molecular level-especially on the molecular machinery of living systems-has now made clear to many what was envisioned by a sole genius so long ago.
Inspired by molecular biology, studies of advanced nanotechnologies have focused on bottom-up construction, in which molecular machines assemble molecular building blocks to form products, including new molecular machines. Biology shows us that molecular machine systems and their products can be made cheaply and in vast quantities.
NANOSCRIBE K. Eric Drexler conceived the concept of molecular machine systems (a component of one is shown in the background).
Stepping beyond the biological analogy, it would be a natural goal to be able to put every atom in a selected place (where it would serve as part of some active or structural component) with no extra molecules on the loose to jam the works. Such a system would not be a liquid or gas, as no molecules would move randomly, nor would it be a solid, in which molecules are fixed in place. Instead this new machine-phase matter would exhibit the molecular movement seen today only in liquids and gases as well as the mechanical strength typically associated with solids. Its volume would be filled with active machinery.
The ability to construct objects with molecular precision will revolutionize manufacturing, permitting materials properties and device performance to be greatly improved. In addition, when a production process maintains control of each atom, there is no reason to dump toxic leftovers into the air or water. Improved manufacturing would also drive down the cost of solar cells and energy storage systems, cutting demand for coal and petroleum, further reducing pollution. Such advances raise hope that those in the developing world will be able to reach First World living standards without causing environmental disaster.
Low-cost, lightweight, extremely strong materials would make transportation far more energy efficient and-finally-make space transportation economical. The old dreams of expanding the biosphere beyond our one vulnerable planet suddenly look feasible once more.
Perhaps the most exciting goal is the molecular repair of the human body. Medical nanorobots are envisioned that could destroy viruses and cancer cells, repair damaged structures, remove accumulated wastes from the brain and bring the body back to a state of youthful health.
