Responsible Nanotechnology

Nanotech and Cyborgs

"Life is nanotech." So says Stephen Gordon, blogging at The Speculist. He's writing about "Holy Grail of Enzymatics: Making Enzymes that Make Anything You Want," a recent blog post by Al Fin.

Fin says:

Ever since scientists learned they could design new genes--and thus new proteins--in the lab, they have been hoping to gain enough specificity in the design of enzymes to allow the use of artificial enzymes to create new and useful molecules that have never existed in nature. Clearly, that is nano-assembly in an enzymatic form, with potential approaching anything Eric Drexler may have dreamed for his own nanoassemblers.

Elsewhere, he says:

Nanotechnologists too often approach the assembly of their nano-machines on a de novo basis, ignoring the legions of nano-machines that evolved over a billion years ago. Nano-engineers had better begin learning from the biologically evolved nanodynamic structures, or they will be made irrelevant by bio-nano engineers.

CRN does not take a position on whether the earliest forms of advanced nanotechnology -- meaning molecular manufacturing -- will come through thorough control of enzymes, through engineering of DNA, through structured polymers, through vacuum-based mechanochemistry, or some other method.

We do expect, however, that no matter which approach is the first to achieve automated, programmed, exponential manufacturing at the nanoscale, eventually diamondoid nanotech will prove to be the most robust.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Humanitarian Nanotechnology

The following is an excerpt from our page: A Solution that Balances Many Interests.

Capitalist nanotech is compatible with humanitarian relief

There are billions of people in the world today who have almost no way of earning money. Many of these people are sick and even dying from malnutrition and disease, but may not be able to pay licensing fees for cheaply manufactured nano-built products that would keep them alive.

Global security and humanitarian considerations both demand that basic material needs be provided for these people whether or not they can pay. There are many arguments that the owners of nanofactory technology should allow free use for humanitarian purposes.

• First, the profits to be made from selling water filters and mosquito netting are miniscule compared with the profits from selling high-end luxury goods.
• Second, if only one nanofactory design is allowed, this creates a monopoly, and monopolies can legitimately be regulated.
• Third, if billions of people can rapidly be raised from abject poverty, the global market for luxury goods will increase dramatically, which allows the owners to make more money (the "rising tide" argument).
• Fourth, both governments and charities should be willing to compensate the nanofactory owners handsomely for a blanket humanitarian license.
• Fifth, innovative products generate more money for the nanofactory owners—and to spur innovation, basic technologies should be free anyway.
• Sixth, if the future owners are not willing to agree to this at the time nanofactories are developed, they may be locked out of the development project in favor of those who will allow free humanitarian (and perhaps government) use.
• Seventh, lifesaving technology will be so cheap to produce that to restrict its use would be obscene; few individual business owners or stockholders would actually choose to prevent lifesaving use if they were directly confronted with the choice.

We've been called "naive" for seeking solutions that avoid a nanotech arms race. Is our reasoning above equally blind to realpolitik?

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Analog Computers & Nanotechnology

In this month's CRN science essay, Chris Phoenix writes:

Far back in the misty dawn of time, around 1950 or so, there were two kinds of computers. One was the now-familiar digital computer, doing computations on hard-edged decimal or binary numbers—the forerunner of today's PC's. The other kind of computer was the analog computer. At the time, analog computers were far more powerful than digital computers. So, why did digital computers come to replace analog, and what lessons does that hold for nanotechnology? The answer can be found in several properties of digital computers—precision, abstraction, and high-throughput production of components—that will also be found in molecular manufacturing systems.

Molecular manufacturing proposes to build useful products by building molecules using mechanical processes under computer control. A few molecular construction techniques, repeated many times, would be able to build a wide array of molecular shapes. These shapes could be used in functional nanosystems, such as sensors, computers, and motors. The nanosystems could be combined into useful products—even kilogram-scale or larger products containing vast numbers of nanosystems built and assembled under automated control.

This type of nanotechnology is sometimes criticized by nanotechnologists working in other areas. Critics say that the approach is unnatural, and therefore will be inefficient and of limited utility. The trouble with this argument is that digital computers are unnatural in similar ways. If this argument were correct, then digital computers should never have been able to supplant analog computers. . .

[MORE HERE]

Today's nanoscale technologies are comparable to analog computers: they deal directly and elegantly with physical phenomena. However, digital computers have replaced analog computers in almost every instance, and have expanded to perform many tasks that would be impossible with analog methods. In the same way that digital computers attain greater flexibility, lower cost, and easier design by abstracting away from physical phenomena, molecular manufacturing will be able to take advantage of the precision of atoms and their bonds to build nanoscale manufacturing systems capable of making a wide variety of products. It remains to be seen whether molecular manufacturing methods will supplant or only complement other nanoscale technologies, but the history of computers suggests that such an outcome is possible.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

The Need for Transparency

"Undercover Video You'll Find hard To Believe" - from a TV station reporter in South Florida.

David Brin calls it:

...a live and real-life example of how desperately we need tools of transparency. This is why I wrote The Transparent Society. This kind of bullying takes place at all levels. We need accountability!

Smaller video cameras and microphones should make a big difference, with private citizens helping to provide transparency and new media like blogs demanding accountability.

We are witnessing the birth of the participatory panopticon.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Personal Rapid Transit

Read this fascinating and thought-provoking article by Jeremy Faludi at WorldChanging. Although government officials have lacked the vision thus far to install a PRT system anywhere in the world, something like it should be a no-brainer with molecular manufacturing.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

C-R-Newsletter #38

The latest edition of the C-R-Newsletter has been posted on our main website.

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:

WorldChanging Interview
CRN Goes to Switzerland
From Heaven to Doomsday
The Future And You
CRN Task Force Essays
Developing Countries and Nano Law
Nanotech Basics for Students
A New Definition of Nanotechnology
Sander Olson’s Interviews
CRN Goes to Spain
Nanomanufacturing Conference
Feature Essay: Who remembers analog computers?

Read the whole newsletter here — and sign up for a free subscription here.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology future

Bucky Good, Bucky Bad

An Israeli company has recently tested one of the most shock-resistant materials known to man. Five times stronger than steel and at least twice as strong as any impact-resistant material currently in use as protective gear, the new nano-based material is on its way to becoming the armor of the future.

[C]ertain inorganic compounds...that normally occur as large flat platelets can be synthesized into much smaller nano-spheres and nano-tubes...named inorganic fullerene-like nanostructures or IF for short. Fullerenes are a new form of carbon, other forms being diamond, graphite and coal. They are molecules composed entirely of carbon, taking the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are sometimes called buckyballs, while cylindrical fullerenes are called buckytubes or nanotubes.

It's not molecular manufacturing, of course, but if this innovative form of nanotechnology can save lives, then it's a good thing.

Meanwhile...

A new study published in December 2005 in Biophysical Journal raises a red flag regarding the safety of buckyballs when dissolved in water. It reports the results of a detailed computer simulation that finds buckyballs bind to the spirals in DNA molecules in an aqueous environment, causing the DNA to deform, potentially interfering with its biological functions and possibly causing long-term negative side effects in people and other living organisms.

This research is far from conclusive, but certainly it raises concerns.

What the researchers don't know is whether these worrisome binding events will take place in the body.

"Earlier studies have shown both that buckyballs can migrate into bodily tissues and can penetrate cell membranes," [chemical engineer Peter] Cummings says. "We don't know whether they can penetrate a cell nucleus and reach the DNA stored there. What this study shows is that if the buckyballs can get into the nucleus they could cause real problems. What are needed now are experimental and theoretical studies to demonstrate whether they can actually get there. Because the toxicity of nanomaterials like buckyballs is not well known at this point, they are regarded in the laboratory as potentially very hazardous, and treated accordingly."

UPDATE: A new study could allay some of the fears about health and safety issues relating to carbon nanotubes and open the door for exploring the use of such nanomaterials in the body. "This is the first time carbon nanotubes have been administered intravenously and fundamental pharmacokinetic parameters have been obtained," Kostarelos tells C&EN. "It is also the first description of carbon nanotubes circulating in the blood of live animals and the first report showing blood clearance and urine excretion of the nanotubes."

(Note that this study is on carbon nanotubes, whereas the one just above concerned buckyballs.)

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Is CRN Politically Naive?

An unnamed blogger, who describes himself as "a practising Psychoanalyst, Psychiatrist...trying to make sense of the unreality around us," writes:

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology is devoted to peace and justice... though they are politically naive, they understand the implications of nanotechnology.

He quotes some of our words about the military implications of molecular manufacturing, such as "geopolitical instability in the form of accelerating arms races and preemptive strikes." Then he says:

It would be nice if everyone could agree to only develop the peaceful uses of nanotechnology, but it is pretty much inconceivable (except to those who believe the Iranians are developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes), and since the country(ies) that get there first with all this technology will be in an unassailable position, I would just as soon it be us.

(By "us" I assume he means the United States.)

Anyone who reads this blog, our papers, or our other writings will realize that CRN does not expect it will be easy to convince everyone to "only develop the peaceful uses of nanotechnology." Our concern is that all the other alternatives seem to lead to devastating war, an oppressive world dictatorship, or both.

Is that politically naive?

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Futuristic Construction Projects

Currently under construction in Dubai, Hydropolis is the world's first luxury underwater hotel. It will include three elements: the land station, where guests will be welcomed, the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel, and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex.

Due to open at the end of 2007, Hydropolis is an excellent example of the kind of futuristic construction project that is (barely) possible today, but that will become much easier -- almost routine -- in the near future with the extremely powerful capabilities of molecular manufacturing.

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog

Global Nanotech Challenges

Indonesian newspaper readers will get a treat today if they go to the Op/Ed pages of the Jakarta Post. In a cogent and stimulating essay, Mohamad Mova Al 'Afghani (a member of the CRN Task Force) describes why "Developing countries must be ready for nanotechnology."

Exponential manufacturing will not require a large number of people or large sites to conduct product-fabrication. Consequently, factories, giant machineries and its workers will no longer be required...

The revolution in manufacturing resulting from MNT [molecular nanotechnology] may also halt international trade of goods, as comparative advantages among nations in terms of natural resources will become obsolete. At the point where resource scarcity is no longer an issue, the only relevant comparative advantage is probably the ownership of knowledge capital, that is to say, a generation of highly skilled knowledge workers...

I have three recommendations worth considering in order to prevent or mitigate the above risks, namely (i) reformulating education, (ii) developing the legal system and ethics and (iii) promoting international cooperation in the field of MNT.

Al 'Afghani is an attorney working in corporate law and intellectual property. His legal background, his involvement in international business affairs, and his perspective as a citizen of a developing country give him a unique perspective. Readers of the Jakarta Post are fortunate for this opportunity to begin learning about nanotechnology from him.

But no matter where you live or work, I recommend reading the entire essay.

Mike Treder

Tags: nanotechnology nanotech nano science technology ethics weblog blog