The Era of Nanotechnology

What is Here, What is to Come and Where to go from Here

Jeremy P. Chapman

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Nanotechnology refers to the observation, manipulation and creation of objects at a nanoscale (one nanometer equals one billionth of a meter). The onset of nanotechnology will be unbelievably swift and already threatens to take many of us by surprise. The pace of advances seems to gain speed with every passing moment. In 1996, the Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded to a researcher in the field of nanotechnology, Richard E. Smalley. Last year, Bill Clinton announced a $497 million National Nanotechnology Initiative in a speech at Caltech. However, the idea for nanomachines is not a new one; as early as 1959, Richard P. Feynman gave a speech at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society at the California Institute of Technology in which he proposed the idea for a "new field of physics". Inspired by the body's own systems for manufacturing and manouevering nanoscale objects, Feynman proposed hypothetical self-replicating mini robots. In theory, and in limited practice, nanoscale assembler systems could rearrange the molecular structure of any material, according to the preprogrammed instructions of a technician. The effects of the introduction of such a technology could potentially be devastating; there will be worldwide economic disruption when items that once were costly to produce become as cheap, literally, as dirt. This in turn will trigger massive job loss as nanomachines become more pervasive within the job market. Molecular technology could rearrange incorrect patterns of molecules and heal cells, capable of bringing excellent health and indefinite life to all. Since nanomachinery will be self replicating, and therefore extremely inexpensive, there will be few limits with regard to access to the technology. Faced with this new way of life, the public will feel an undeniable need for new challenges and ways in which to contribute to humanity. This essay will highight the need for education and planning programs as well as outline three major and indispensable humanistic programs that must be embarked upon with the coming of nanotechnology, along with an agency able to provide the necessary communication networks and support for technical issues.

What is Here

Nanotechnology is not science fiction. It is based on sound chemical and physical engineering foundations, most of which were adapted by studying internal human processes and attempting to recreate them mechanically. Erik Drexler explains the similarity between human cells and self-replicating mechanical assemblers: "Cells replicate. Their machines copy their DNA, which directs their ribosomal machinery to build other machines from simpler molecules... ...Artificial replicators could be built to work in a similar way, but using assemblers instead of ribosomes. In this way, we could build cell-like replicators that are not limited to molecular machinery made from the soft, moist folds of protein molecules."(Drexler, p.42). These nanomachines would be able to arrange any sort of molecules in any given order; the orders being supplied by a partnered computer. As atoms are manipulated by this diminuitive robot, the selected form would take shape, growing steadily from a mass of base material, such as carbon black or even water or air. Because assemblers will let us place atoms in nearly any arrangement, they will let us build almost anything that the laws of nature allow to exist. In particular, they will let us build almost anything we can design - including more assemblers. The consequences of this will be profound, because our crude tools have let us explore only a small part of the range of possibilities that natural law permits. Assemblers will open a world of new technologies in the fields of medicine, space, computation, production and warfare; all of which depend on our ability to arrange atoms. With assemblers, we will be able to remake our world or destroy it. Those who deny the possibility of the existence of these nano-assemblers are going to be extremely ill prepared when the day finally comes to make the Big Choice. When faced with this monumental decision (more on this later), one must be mentally prepared, and be able to understand the fundamental scientific processes underlying the technology. Virtually all the experts agree that within ten years, nano-scale measurements will be commonplace, and limited assemblers should be breaking on to the scene. Only after this assembler hurdle is crossed will there be the dizzying acceleration of formation of new and unique technologies.

What's to Come

Molecular technology will bring enormous health benefits simply because the human body is made of molecules. The ill, the old, and the injured all suffer from improperly arranged patterns of atoms, stemming from invading viruses, passing time, or violent impacts. Devices able to rearrange atoms will be able to correct these deficiencies and injuries. Although surgeons can see problems and plan actions, they wield crude tools; drug molecules affect tissues at the molecular level, but they cannot coordinate their effect to any accurate level. Molecular machines that are directed by nanocomputers will offer physicians another choice. They will combine sensors, programs, and molecular tools to form systems able to examine and repair the ultimate components of individual cells. They will bring surgical control to the molecular domain. These advanced molecular devices will be years in arriving, but researchers motivated by medical needs are already studying molecular machines and molecular engineering. Medical needs will push this work forward, encouraging researchers to take further steps toward protein design and molecular engineering. Medical, military, and economic pressures all push us in the same direction. Even before the assembler breakthrough, molecular technology will bring impressive advances in medicine; trends in biotechnology guarantee it. Still, these advances will generally be piecemeal and hard to predict, each exploiting some detail of biochemistry. Later, when we apply assemblers and technical artificial intelligence systems to medicine, we will gain broader abilities that are easier to foresee. Nanotechnology will bring a fundamental breakthrough in medicine, vastly prolonging life, and allowing a good quality of life to be enjoyed throughout their prolonged life span.

Where to go From Here

Multidisciplinary teams of linguists, anthropologists, psychologists and philosophers will work in tandem with teams of informed experts in nanotechnology on devising the Big Choice. They will assemble a multimedia, mostly visual and symbolic presentation that will explain the rudimentary scientific concepts behind molecular engineering. This will ensure that all cultures and language speakers can make an informed decision about this revolutionary science. Also, they will illustrate various applications of nanotechnology (with an emphasis on life extension), and provide a brief summation of the possible pros and cons of making this decision. Finally, the Big Choice: aware of the possible benefits and risks, do you want to enter a symbiotic relationship with nanomachinery, to be healthy and live a far prolonged life? Some possible examples of suggested pros and cons:

· Pros

· Less/no manual labour, shorter/no working hours.

· Nearly unlimited mobility and time to move freely.

· Continuing education, arts, social service, sports, community life.

· People can move beyond materialism when their material needs are met.

Cons.

· Risk of uniformity as a mass society.

· With mass production - loss of diversity in items produced.

· Loss of individuality.

· Could lend to people a narrow criterion of efficiency.

Clinics equipped with a small replicator assembly lab could easily be staffed by volunteers from countries with the many recently misplaced workers. The clinics would virtually build themselves with help from replicators, spreading umbrella-like in the fashion of vaccination clinics in the third world. There will always be some who will refuse on ethical or moral grounds to extend their life with help from nanotechnology, preferring the more traditional survival strategies for their precious genes. Their bloodlines will continue, as will the long lifers', nanotechnology does not aspire to interfere with germ-line DNA, and therefore will have no effect on the unborn generations.

The Reclamation

We will next embark upon a massive scale reclamation of humankind's most precious resources: our environment and endangered or extinct species. We must make these concerns our next priority, available to the future of the human race. The Internet or World Wide Web will serve as a worldwide communications network, it will link all the various teams together, carry directives and policies, publishing findings and ensuring the public is well informed and participating. Environmental task teams staffed by volunteers will be deployed worldwide with portable nanotechnology labs. They could travel to each trouble spot, analyse the problem, report to the specialists, and then administer a cure. They will be charged with cleaning, refertilizing and refoliating our ailing planet. Extensive and inexpensive space exploration and colonization programs will also be instituted. We would provide virtually free information and space exploration materials in return for a trading agreement or similar treaty. By encouraging colonization, two problems would be dealt with; overpopulation of the planet, and the renewal of previously finite raw materials.

G.Hu.D.I.

The coordination of these monumental tasks must be undertaken by a decentralized organization with large electronic storage facilities. Millions of people and projects will rely on this institution as their link to humanity. G.Hu.D.I. is the Global Human Directional Institute, an apolitical entity whose mandate would be to direct the efforts of all humans interested in the various stages of rebuilding and reclamation that will need to be done. The core of G.Hu.D.I. would be a group consisting of: political leaders, public interest groups (environmental, historical, cultural, etc.), a scientific advisory board, and an immense computer network containing database files of all current and future projects. It would provide creative and inspiring direction in the years of adaption that will follow the onset of nanotechnology. It would keep track of all ongoing endeavours, and aid individuals in joining projects already existing, or in helping them create their own. Lastly, the institute will provide specialized support for technical problems and ideas, providing feasibility studies and developing policies in directing further beneficial research.

Therefore, in conclusion, whether one likes it or not, nanotechnology is a perfectly viable scientific application with which we may all soon have to deal. As with any other emergent controversial technology such as germ-line manipulation of genes or human cloning, there is an urgent need for ethical and philosophical education, not to mention schooling in basic scientific literacy. We must ensure that the generations to come, those who must deal with our era's particular striving towards fast paced development of products and services are equipped with the appropriate tools of the mind to allow them to act as stewards of the earth and humanity. Beause although it may usher in an age of unparalleled health, prosperity and humanly good, nanotechnology is not without drawbacks and risks. This is a technology with almost unlimited power, one that must be wielded only by an educated and informed hand. Regulation and legislation will be necessary at first in order to minimize the risks of unethical practices; since molecular engineering may bring us the power of gods, the well being and prosperity of humankind rely on our own benevolence and sagacity.

Selected Bibliography

· Drexler, Eric K., Engines of Creation (Doubleday, 1986)

· Barbour, Ian G., Ethics in an Age of Technology, The Gifford Lectures 1989-1991, Vol.2, (Harper, 1993)