http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59268,00.html
Of all the future technologies looming ahead, nanotechnology, as based on Eric Drexler's concept of nanobots -- molecular sized manufactories -- promised to be the most revolutionary, simply because they redrew the equations of energy use in relation to production. If anything could counter the Malthusian dystopia of an earth overrun with starving billions, nanotechnology sounded like it.
While initial scientific reception of Drexler's ideas was skeptical, over the early part of the 1990s they garnered some support. This article suggests that the more extreme versions of Drexler's dream (or nightmare) will never be realized. At the same time, the book is not necessarily closed on this subject.
The connections between nanotechnology and computing were immediate and obvious -- so any shortcomings in the former may well circumscribe futures in the latter.
Posted by jho at June 24, 2003 08:53 PM