X-Message-Number: 32951
References: <>
From: Gerald Monroe <>
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:37:37 -0500
Subject: Re: CryoNet #32949 - #32950

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Perry : what's the closest real world industry or field that is working on a
precursor to molecular manufacturing?

One thing about the overall field that keeps nagging at me : we have a good,
solid description of what molecular manufacturing is and how it will we
work.  Many scientists are confident it will work (and I think the prior art
of nature itself is proof enough).  How many years typically passed between
when writers and scientists of the past accurately described a technology
and when it was first prototyped?  For instance, Babbage's analytical engine
was described in 1837 (refined until his death in 1871) and the first
mechanical computer that was comparable was the German Z1, completed 1938.
 101 years.

A nanomachine capable of general purpose manufacturing is expected to look
very similar to a mechanical computer, with thousands of intricate molecular
parts working in sync.  Hopefully it will take less than 101 years to build
a working prototype, but even if it does, it's a reasonable period of time
for a cryonics organization to preserve it's patients.  On a positive note,
it's expected that nanotechnology will develop faster than almost any other
technology introduced due to the facts that the production devices will be
self replicating and that it is expected to turbocharge many other
technologies that have been stalled for decades.

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