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From: mwm@VIOLET.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike Meyer, My watch has windows)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Nanotechnology
Message-ID: <8711032239.AA04984@violet.berkeley.edu>
Date: Tue, 3-Nov-87 17:39:12 EST
Article-I.D.: violet.8711032239.AA04984
Posted: Tue Nov  3 17:39:12 1987
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>> For example, life extension requires that we understand deeply how
>> aging affects the body. NT will help researchers, but it won't
>> suddenly make them so much smarter that they understand in detail how
>> life 'works'.

"Help" is an understatement. As Drexler pointed out, the ability to
dissasemble the molecules found floating inside of a cell atom by atom
will be a major boost. Given that knowledge and the ability to restore
all the molecules in a cell to the 'healthy' state, it's not clear how
much you have to know about how life 'works'. As an analogy, a
mechanic can fix a car without understanding the chemical reactions
involved in combustion.

>> NT remaking the world suddenly is simply not going to happen. An
>> analogy is the old 'nuclear power too cheap to meter' idea. Comments?

That was my primary reaction. Even if you assume that all the FM that
drexler describes happens as described without unforseen nasties,
you've still got to face the political problem of putting the results
into use. Drexler seems to waltz around it, but never face it (but I
haven't finished the book). He claims that moving asteroids will be of
great benefit, then mentions we have the technology to do that now.
And ignores the question of why we're not moving asteroids. He then
uses the "living space of the solar system" to hand-wave his way past
objections to extended life spans.

On the other hand, the generation before us saw transportation go from
steam-powered ships crossing the Atlantic to regularly scheduled jet
flights. Given that transister got their start at the beginning of
this generation, what is computer technology going to be like at the
end, and what are we going to do with it?

	<mike