Nanotechnology

[-=BT=-]

What's your take on it?

I personally can't wait for it to be mastered. Just imagine the possibilities - being able to create at atomic level *any* known material from an energy source. It's even possible to create new "super materials" such as incredibly light-weight and flexible materials that are stronger than steel etc.

Being able to produce any form of food with very little energy input - could be an end to famine in certain countries. Hell, it could be an end to currency as we know it! Who needs currency when any material can be produced like magic? I know that's an extreme case but I suppose it is possible.

Computer chips more powerful than the fastest consumer CPU at the moment, but no larger than 1mm in diameter! Tiny machines using these computer chips to guide them around your body and repair internal organs. It sounds impossible, but it isn't.

I'm definately not buying into the whole "grey goo" theory of tiny little robots gaining an awareness and taking over the planet though. Although I suppose it is possible for some loony with a good understanding of the technology to form a colossal(?) army of killer robots and TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So what are your thoughts on the matter? Do think it's a good thing, or a bad thing?

[Sun Tzu]

Nanotechnology + advanced AI= ?

[meanSpleen]

Originally posted by -=BT=-
Being able to produce any form of food with very little energy input - could be an end to famine in certain countries.

Its not that there is a famine in the world because there is not enough food. The real problem is that the people are not located in the right areas. The entire population of the world can live within the boarders of the state of Texas, in families of 4, in 2000 square foot homes, with another 2000 square feet of space surrounding their homes.

Aside from the home thing, the United States produces enough food, or has the ability to produce enough food in a very short time for the entire population.

Bringing it all together, if everyone lived in texas, and the rest of the world was somehow used for farming, there would be no starvation.

This is, of couse, a severe hypothetical situation. We are not going to move to Texas anytime soon.

[JNshorty]

well actually strangely enough I am going to school to make nano-technology my career... its very facinating to me.... I cant wait to see the medical benifits of making machines that small...

[MSD]

I recall an artile in Popular Mechanics years ago in which a prediction was made that fleets of nano-bots could be clumped together to form a sort of tangible hologram, which could be used to simulate a real person. Imagine the possibilities for the sex industry.

One person I knew from High School is working through college with the intent to create a nano-bot that can be injected and hunt down malaria in the bloodstream.

[Wile E]

Sounds like somebody has been reading Michael Crichton's Prey. The technology is being worked on yes, but it is a long way off. Not so sure it will ever become useful in my lifetime.

And no, I am NOT moving to Texas.

[-=BT=-]

heh, no I haven't been reading Prey, although I would like to.

I've always been interested in Nano-technology and the benefits of it, but just recently the possibility of nanobots going mad and destroying Earth has been hyped up in the media which is why I thought I would hear everyone's views.

[-=BT=-]

We are a fair way off yes, but not as far away as we think - the manufacturing process for CPUs is constantly being reduced and we are now at a point where CPUs can be produced at .09 micron level, or 90 nanometres. 20 years or so down the line and these CPUs will probably be manufactured at a process of just a few nanometres... but who can tell...

[Plummie]

I am personally looking forward to the development of nanotechnology. And I also think it will happen in our lifetimes with the way science / technology are improving exponentially every day. It will open up an entire world for us.

[bullgoose]

I've had the odd thought when I see a thread like this; suppose that the urge to create technology like nanotechnology is an evolutionary trait; something that compels us to create our own replacement as the dominant species? Hmmmm....I've got to quit eating before I go to bed.

[ARTelevision]

Investment opportunities for current implementations in nanotech in industries such as solid state electronics and pharmaceuticals are currently high.

for some up to date perspectives a google search for "nanotechnology current" works. See also:

http://nanotech-now.com/

[TaLoN]

just wait till someone figures out how to infect the nano machines with a virus and they end up killing the human race

[JStrider]

first we'll start using tiny robots to heal us...
then we'll start using them to add robotic parts to us...
then we'll have all our minds linked together and call ourselves the BORG...

[touhy]

OT

Mean Spleen,

The world cannot feed itself because they do not adopt democratic capitalism. Where there is freedom and private property rights, there is food.Israel was a desert.

[TRPF]

Texas huh?

Interesting...

[bundy]

This fine man is against nano-techonolgy...

<IMG SRC="http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/gallery/pixnew/big/coopers.jpg">

see

<A HREF="http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,6344982%5E703,00.html">Daily Telegraph</A>

personally, i'm excited by the technological advancements offered by nano-technology.
hope i'm around to fight the machines when they start to take over.

[phredgreen]

another recommended reading would be Neil Stephenson's <i>The Diamond Age</i> - it is a work of fiction, but he does alot in interpreting the way that nanotech will affect us in the future...


i think it has wonderful and at the same time slightly sinistert applications... to control the building blocks of life and make anything you want is to control the whole world around you.

[hrdwareguy]

Think of the medical breakthroughs once nanotechnology is perfected. Having little specialiazed robots roaming around your system irradicating cancers and other hazerdous materials.

[Plummie]

"With great power also comes great responsibility."