Whither Nanotechnology
Seventh Elba-Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology April, 1999 Rome, Italy www.foresight.org/Conferences
The goal: nanotechnology (a.k.a. molecular manufacturing)
Where we are today
Possible arrangements of atoms
The goal of molecular nanotechnology: a healthy bite.
We must develop fundamentally new capabilities
Should we actively pursue the development of molecular nanotechnology?
The good news
The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering things atom by atom. It is not an attempt to violate any laws; it is something, in principle, that can be done; but in practice, it has not been done because we are too big. Richard Feynman, 1959
Most interesting structures that are at least substantial local minima on a potential energy surface can probably be made one way or another. Richard Smalley Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1996
The bad news
What needs to be done
Overview of the development of molecular nanotechnology
Issues
A proposal for a programmable molecular positional device
Issues with positional control
Proposal for a self replicating device: an assembler
Von Neumann architecture for a self replicating system
Drexler’s architecture for an assembler
Complexity of self replicating systems (bits)
A C program that prints out an exact copy of itself
English translation:
Idiosyncratic vs systematic
Is nanotechnology only about small things?
How long?
It’s possible to think that “nanotechnology”
Can we abandon these principles without compromising the goal?
Email: merkle@parc.xerox.com
Home Page: www.ralphmerkle.com
Power Point 97: http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/talks/IBC981207/talk.ppt