Re: Nanotech will solve everything...

Roger Books wrote:
 
> There is one thing that keeps coming up in the cloning discussion,
> and that't nano-technology.
> 
> I don't see nano-tech really happening, we are already reaching the
> limits of how much information we can map into a small area due to
> physical constraints.

With real nanotechnology, we're already there. Machines have already
been built that do simple computations, using gearwheels and rods made
of single molecules.

Yes, they're Babbage Engines. At the nano scale, mechanical rather than
electronic appears to be the way to go, purely because of uncertainties
of position when you deal with subatomic particles. And in "mechanical"
I include the use of knotted polymorphic proteins, which is how much of
biology works. A lymphocyte forex is a very complex machine with many
different parts - we should be able to make something more specialised
that has all the sensors, computation, effectors and power supply we
need in about the same size.

Getting rid of the generated heat - that's a very big problem. What to
do when things go wrong - that's another. Manufacturing these beasties
in sufficient quantity is also a problem, as the ones Evolution
developed, while being millions of times bigger than they need be, are
good at self-assembly and easy to produce.

The problems:

"Do we assemble a set of proteins that wrap together in a certain shape"
"Do we breed a particular strain of virus"
"Do we manufacture a single-purpose nanobot"

become very convergent, and probably equivalent in the long term.

> I am more likely to believe a new understanding of physics that allows
> exceeding the speed of light than I am in believing we will be
> rebuilding brains with nano-technology in the next 3K years or so.

I'll settle for either. Though I think both is are likely. I think
persuasive evidence is in that Mozart's 40th has been transmitted and
received over 12cm FTL (4.7 c to be presact).

URLs

FTL and Mozart's 40th

G.Harry Stein's Alternate View
http://mist.npl.washington.edu/AV/altvw75.html

BBC's HORIZON transcript on "The Time Lords" - Hawking, Sagan et al
http://www.bbc.co.uk/horizon/timelordtran.shtml
(HORIZON is by far the best Science TV series I know of, and the archive
of past programs is a treasure trove)

Nanotech

Molecular Manufacturing: Adding positional control to Chemical Synthesis
http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/CDAarticle.html

Charles Platt's (fictional) Nanotech Museum
http://www.wired.com/wired/scenarios/museum.html
Useful for its (factual) links.

More if people want them. I've tried to only quote the ones relatively
easy to understand.
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