Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: josh@cs.rutgers.edu Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: FI Update 9 part 7 of 8 Message-ID: Date: 9 Aug 90 04:48:55 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 245 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu Books of Note Books are listed in order of increasing specialization and reading challenge. Your suggestions are welcome. And remember, if a book's price looks too high, your library should be able to get it through interlibrary loans. --Editor Megamistakes, by Steven P. Schnaars, Free Press (Macmillan), 1989, cloth, $19.95. Useful examination of technology forecasting mistakes and why they happen. Business-oriented; repetitive in spots. Fails to support the subtitle's claim that rapid technological change is a "myth." Spacefarers, Voyage through the Universe series, Time-Life Books, 1989. Includes pp. 116, 117-121 on proposed uses of nanotechnology in space, much artwork. FI member Stewart Cobb consulted on the project. Contact 800-621-7026. Hypertext 89 Proceedings, from the Nov. 5-8 Pittsburgh meeting, chairman Rob Akscyn, published by Association for Computing Machinery, paper, $30. Most concentrated source of published information (28 papers) on work being done in the field; highly recommended for those interested in hypertext. ACM order #608891 from ACM Order Dept., PO Box 64145, Baltimore, MD 21264. MEMS-90, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, held Feb. 11-14 at Napa, CA, cosponsored by ASME; $28. The "bottom-up" approach to building continues to infiltrate this "top-down" meeting series with coverage of STM work from IBM Watson, Stanford, University of Tokyo, and Matsusita. Most papers on micro structures, sensors, actuators, machines, and robots. IEEE catalog #90CH2832-4; phone 800-678-IEEE. Molecular Electronic Devices: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium, ed. F.L. Carter, R.E. Siatkowski, and H. Wohltjen, Elsevier/North Holland, 1988, $152.75. Proceedings of the 1986 meeting; primarily for chemists, but does include one paper on mechanical nanocomputers. Wish List The translators requested in the last issue have volunteered--see Thanks column--but we could use more translators from Japanese to English, especially those willing to do long pieces. The translations usually are not time critical and can be done over a few weeks. We would also appreciate additional volunteer help in Macintosh desktop publishing, especially layout. FI needs equipment, new or used: a small photocopier, two fax machines, and a second Laserwriter printer. Note that donations of equipment or funds are tax-deductible as charitable contributions. If you or your company can help, call our office at 415-324-2490. Thanks Thanks to Nils Andersson and Walter Vannini for offering to translate into English from German and Italian, respectively. Journal and magazine coverage of topics of interest to Foresight is booming, as can be told by the number of people we hereby thank for sending in copies. Please keep sending these--we often hear of important articles only once. Thanks to Joseph Bonaventura, Jamie Dinkelacker, Jerry Fass, Darrell Flynn, W.C. Gaines, Stan and Kiyomi Hutchings, Tony Johnson, Jeff MacGillivray, Joy Martin, Tom McKendree, Leonard Micko, K.E. Nelson, Ed Niehaus, Anthony Oberley, Brian D. Ornstedt, John Papiewski, Jack Powers, Naomi Reynolds, Howard Rheingold, Stuart E. Scott, Alvin Steinberg, and Tihamer Toth-Fejel. Thanks for book recommendations go to Jerry Fass and Max O'Connor. Letters The Foresight Institute receives hundreds of letters requesting information and sending ideas. Herewith excerpts: On behalf of Don Lavoie, Bill Tulloh, myself, and all of us here at the Center for the Study of Market Processes, thanks for the publicity you gave our conference, "Evolutionary Economics: Learning from Computation." It made a big difference to our attendance and the quality of discussions....The conference was a big success. Howard Baetjer George Mason University See the article on the conference elsewhere in this issue. --Editor You have expressed interest in a Soviet publication about Engines of Creation, and before a copy of it I requested from there arrives, I'd like to share with you some information. This was a small monthly periodical in "Radioelectronics and Communications" series, published, together with many other brochures, journals, books, etc. by the Soviet Znanie ("Knowledge") Society--a very large and versatile organization for spreading technological and scientific knowledge. Popular and serious at the same time, the article was authored by Alexandr Smirnov and titled "Chips, LSI Chips, VLSI Chips..." This seemingly irrelevant title is very characteristic for today's Soviet life, when people do have new freedoms, but have to use traditional organizations, channels, and titles. Pages 3-16 are devoted to a review of a number of works by V.F. Dorfman (Soviet) on the history of evolution of shape-forming instruments, machines, and methods, as well as his classifications of shape-forming processes and equipment. One of the interesting questions touched is why industrial equipment is bigger, while building machinery is smaller, than the objects they form? Then, from page 16 to 64, there is a serious, concise (and un-critical) rendering of all chapters of Engines. As I understand, the first part was to put a theoretical foundation under the reader's understanding of the role of nanotechnology in the process of technological evolution. I liked the whole brochure for both the contents and style and think that the Foresight Institute itself would hardly give a better representation of its ideas. ...This country [USSR], despite its collapsing social structures, is worth working with, considering its large, and mostly unknown to the human world, pool of creative ideas, traditions of long-term and large-scale thinking, and, still, the cheapest intellectuals on the planet. Alexander Chislenko (now in Cambridge, MA) When we receive a copy of this publication and get it translated, at least in part, we'll publish more on the state of nanotechnology information in the USSR. --Editor Media and Journal Coverage The journal Technology Analysis and Strategic Management published in its December 1989 issue an article on the First Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology. The December 1989 issue of Japan's Journal of Micromachine Society covered the conference on pages 25-29 and perhaps beyond--without a translation we can't tell where it stops. The March 1990 issue of JOM (formerly Journal of Metals) included a one-page review of the conference by David R. Forrest, an early member of the MIT Nanotechnology Study Group. The May 8, 1990, issue of Newsday had a two-page article by Kathy Woolard on nanotechnology, an unusually well-done piece and perhaps the only newspaper article to mention the engineering problem of thermal motion and how it is solved. Brava, Kathy. The June 1990 issue of Ad Astra, the magazine of the National Space Society, featured a four-page article on nanotechnology by FI member (and early member of the MIT Nanotechnology Study Group) Stewart Cobb. The Summer 1990 issue of the Whole Earth Review published a ten-page writeup of pros (Drexler) and cons (Simson Garfinkel) in the technical case for nanotechnology and a one-page summary of the First Foresight Conference by Steven Levy. Upcoming Events Bootstrap Seminar, one of an ongoing series, June 19-21, Stanford University. Led by distinguished visionary and hypertext pioneer Douglas Engelbart. Special focus on the design requirements for an Open Hyperdocument System. Contact 415-725-2985. STM U90, Fifth International Conference on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Spectroscopy, July 23-27, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Baltimore, MD. Sponsored by the American Vacuum Society and the U.S. Office of Naval Research. Contact Chairman James Murday, 202-767-3026, fax 202-404-7139. NANO I, First International Conference on Nanometer Scale Science and Technology, held in conjunction with STM U90 described above. Includes investigation of fabrication and characterization of nanometer scale phenomena in surface chemistry and physics, solid-state physics, metrology, materials science and engineering, biology and biomaterials, mechanics, sensors, and electronics technology. Same contact as STM U90. DIAC-90, Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing, July 28, Cambridge, MA, $25-$40. Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Explores misuses of computing and how to prevent them. Contact C. Whitcomb, 617-891-3103. AAAI-90, National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, July 29-August 3, Boston, MA, $160-$315. Very broad coverage of AI topics. Contact AAAI, 415-328-3123, fax 415-321-4457. Frontiers of Supercomputing II: A National Reassessment, August, Los Alamos National Laboratory, sponsored by NSF, DOE, NASA, DARPA, NSA, the Supercomputing Research Center, and Los Alamos. Small strictly invitational meeting; Ralph Merkle will speak on nanotechnology at a session on the future computing environment. Recent Events Ralph Merkle has given three talks on nanotechnology recently: California State University at Hayward (sponsored by Sigma Xi Research Society and the School of Science) on February 8, one for Hewlett-Packard on April 11, and a seminar for a Stanford Information Systems Lab course on May 10. On April 3 Eric Drexler spoke on nanotechnology as the first Iles Memorial Lecture at Iowa State University. See elsewhere in this issue for his report from Japan, which included talks for Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo, MITI, Sony, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Second Micro Machine Symposium, Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and the Protein Engineering Research Institute. Mark S. Miller spoke on Agoric Open Systems at the Evolutionary Economics meeting at George Mason University. See coverage elsewhere in this issue. CompuServe Access Users of the large commercial computer networks often complain about difficulty in reaching the nanotechnology newsgroup on Usenet, called sci.nanotech. Russell Whitaker reports that those who have CompuServe accounts and wish to receive and contribute sci.nanotech messages can contact the moderator, Josh Storrs Hall, by going to the electronic mail area and entering at the "To:" prompt this address: >INTERNET:josh@aramis.rutgers.edu. There are a couple of other addresses which work, and which may show up as headers on received text. If you have questions, Russell Whitaker can be contacted through CompuServe at 71750,2413.