Eric Drexler, in the mid 1980's wrote an important book, called 'Engines of Creation', outlining Atomic Engineering.
He discusses this in an updated talk in this YouTube video:
The revolution began some time ago - but things are about to speed up tremendously - sooner than anticipated, as we now have the first molecular assembler.
This tool will in turn enable the construction of even better assemblers,and so on and so on. An exponential curve of technological improvement will soon lead to places we cannot even clearly imagine.
Unlike traditional engineering, Atomic Engineering development and testing can be carried out almost in toto as computer simulations. Development of new systems is cheap, and the time from concept to production is many times shorter than with macro-scale engineering. In other words, progress will be extremely rapid - as many products have already been designed in silico, and are awaiting a suitable assembly mechanism.
PARADIGM SHIFT
The first molecular assembler was created toward the end of 2012. This was widely reported, but few of the articles went into much detail about the implications.
Drexlerian Engineering (Feynmanian Engineering, Minskyite Engineering?),and the products that will result from it, and the societal changes that it will lead to, are hard to wrap one's head around - the only limitations on development are the very laws of physics themselves, and human creativity.
Programmable Molecular Assembly was, until January of this 2013, what Drexler called a 'missing technology'. It is missing no longer.
Here is the famous lecture by Feynman that started the ball rolling. (Actually a re-delivery of the original 1959 talk, given in 1984)
He discusses this in an updated talk in this YouTube video:
The revolution began some time ago - but things are about to speed up tremendously - sooner than anticipated, as we now have the first molecular assembler.
This tool will in turn enable the construction of even better assemblers,and so on and so on. An exponential curve of technological improvement will soon lead to places we cannot even clearly imagine.
Unlike traditional engineering, Atomic Engineering development and testing can be carried out almost in toto as computer simulations. Development of new systems is cheap, and the time from concept to production is many times shorter than with macro-scale engineering. In other words, progress will be extremely rapid - as many products have already been designed in silico, and are awaiting a suitable assembly mechanism.
PARADIGM SHIFT
The first molecular assembler was created toward the end of 2012. This was widely reported, but few of the articles went into much detail about the implications.
Drexlerian Engineering (Feynmanian Engineering, Minskyite Engineering?),and the products that will result from it, and the societal changes that it will lead to, are hard to wrap one's head around - the only limitations on development are the very laws of physics themselves, and human creativity.
Programmable Molecular Assembly was, until January of this 2013, what Drexler called a 'missing technology'. It is missing no longer.
Here is the famous lecture by Feynman that started the ball rolling. (Actually a re-delivery of the original 1959 talk, given in 1984)
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