X-Message-Number: 4300
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 1995 21:01:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: N E U R O M A N C E R <>
Subject: Random Thoughts on Nanotechnology   <MAC TONNIES>

from Mac Tonnies  

I started reading "Earth," a science-fiction novel by David Brin, and was
dismayed to read his portrayal of nanotech thirty-some years from the
present.  He envisions nanites as horribly expensive and temperamental--
almost a nuisance more than an industrial advantage.  Then again, if his
novel contained fully-operational nano, his plot (desertification of the
Earth) might develop technical holes.

If a super-efficient nanotechnological substance was developed, I foresee
vast changes in architecture and interior design as well as developments
in AI.  A late 21st century personal computer, for example, might resemble
a silvery, biomorphic sponge--a malleable equivalant to Isaac Asimov's
positronic robot brains.  As building materials become increasingly
self-intelligent, homes and offices will take on a sleek, resinous quality,
allowing fixtures and rooms to "flow" into pre-specified configurations
without disrupting the whole.

I was intrigued by a reference made by Bob Lazar, the physicist who supposedly
helped the U.S. government reverse-engineer alien spacecraft in Nevada.
He desribed the interior of a certain flying saucer as seamless and contoured,
as if every component aboard the ship had been cast in the same mold.  The
result was a dizzying "roundness" that fascinated him.
    Whether one lends his claims credence or not, his descriptions of the
alien craft are reminescent of the rocket engine described by Eric Drexler
in "Engines of Creation."
    Reading: "Alien Contact" by Timothy Good


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