X-Message-Number: 12293 Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 09:26:58 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Nano-computers Reality Check George Smith in his messages repeatedly refers to the "nano-computer breakthrough." So far, the only reference to this that I've seen is from a N.Y. *Times* article of 16 July. The accomplishment *is* impressive, "simple computing components no bigger than a single molecule," but it still has a ways to go before even being useful, let alone ushering in the mature nanotechnology that may be necessary (and sufficient) for resuscitating today's frozen patients. The article itself quotes James Tour, "a Rice University chemistry professor who is conducting similar molecular-scale research": "This is an important stepping stone, but we still have a long way to go. I don't want people to think that in three to five years we'll have molecular electronics, but the interesting thing about this work is that we can now see ways to scale past the limits of silicon." My take on this is that it is one more development (like work with telomerase or tissue engineering) that we can be optimistic about, but still we should not go overboard and *assume* it is the Great Breakthrough that will save us all. Maybe it will indeed prove to be that--but being firmly convinced now is overconfidence. More to the point for us cryonicists, we still need our own research efforts. Maybe they will turn out to be not so important after all. But we don't know that and until we do, the research must continue. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12293