TECHNOLOGY> SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY> NANOTECHNOLOGYTHEORY

10 hours, 68 million new nanobots have been created.

As Tim and Moby mention in themovie, some people have worriedabout drawbacks to nanotechnology.One extreme vision-which physicistsagree is almost certainlyimpossible-is the idea that nanobotscould destroy the world. This scenariois called the grey goo problem.

~.Here's how it works: Scientistsdevelop a nanobot that's programmedto replicate itself every six minutes.The first replicator produces twoadditional robots over the firstminutes; those two new robotsproduce two new robots of their ownover the next six minutes; and in just

And they just keep multiplying. So much so that in fewer than 48 hours, the nanobots wouldoutweigh the entire planet! Several hours after that, they would exceed the mass of the sun and allthe planets combined. Moreover, they'd be too tough, small, and quick to stop.

/ 0Despite thJ,sterrifying vision, scientists are confident that this could never really happen. Majorupdate ~havebeen made in molecular manufacturing technology, and these have made the use ofmillions of "runaway replicators" inefficient and unnecessary.

According to some theorists, the idea of nanobots going "rogue" and destroying all life on Earth isabout as plausible as an airplane suddenly becoming conscious and starting to graze on the animalsand people below. Plus, the planet is already filled with billions of tiny, self-replicatingorganisms-they're called bacteria, and they have lived (relatively) peacefully alongside humansthroughout the history of mankind.

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TECHNOlOGY> SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY· > NANOTECHNOLOGYPERSONALITIES

One of the most important people in the field ofnanotechnology is Eric Drexler, .

Drexler began researching nanotechnology in 1977,while still a senior in college. Nine years later, hefounded the Foresight Institute, a not-for-profit thinktank that seeks to educate the public about thebenefits and hazards of nanotechnology.

Drexler holds four degrees from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, including a Ph.D. inmolecular nanotechnology-the flrstsuch doctorateever given. Although the credit of coining the word"nanotechrioloqy" is usually given to researcher NorioTaniguchi, Drexler is usually considered the personwho most popularized the term,

Drexler has also written several highly influentialbooks. In The Engines of Creation, he presented afull outline of nanotechnology, which lists benefitsand hazards, the effects it will have on theenvironment and the economy, and the policies

governments .should enact to pursue this technology responsibly.I"'-' '

'j:fIn Nano-~/ystemsJ Drexler used basic physics and chemistry to describe how nanotechnologysystems actually work by detailing the physical principles behind nanotech systems and theircomponents.

Drexler currently works for a company that designs software that will one day be used to programnanomachines. He also gives lectures throughout the world.

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