X-Message-Number: 32947
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 07:52:02 -0700
Subject: The problem with nanotechnology
From: Keith Henson <>

There is no question that nanotechnology is possible, after all every
living creature is an example.  Likewise birds were an example of
heavier than air flight long before humans figured out how to do it.
(In some ways, a sparrow is more impressive than an F 22.  Sparrows
don't fly as fast, but F 22s don't reproduce.)

Celestial mechanics is another example.  Orbits were understood a
*long* time before we had the technology to go anywhere.

Likes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the
Heavenly Spheres) Nanosystems is ahead of its time, though I hope
decades rather than centuries.  It is far from being a "fringe,
sterile textbook, not taken seriously by the mainstream scientific and
engineering communities."  It *is* a hard read, but no harder than an
advanced text on biology or computer design.  Perhaps we should get
someone to translate it to a graphic novel format.

It's a shame Mark feels Nanosystems is beyond him.  As I recall, Mark
has a physics degree but has never used it.

Keith

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