FREE ESSAY ON NANOTECHNOLOGY

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Let me say it right now. Everything you thought was the limit of human kind is wrong. The
strongest weapon is not the nuclear bomb. The strongest material is not steel. Your brain
is not the fastest computer on the earth. The sky is not the limit. Humanity has not
reached it full potential. How can I make these statements? I am informed. There is a
revolution coming, it may be bloody, but more than likely it will not be. There will be
casualties, maybe not human ones. This is not a military revolution; this is a revolution
in every aspect of life as we know it. It will make the Industrial revolution look like a
stumbling block in our history. This revolution has already begun, and hopefully when
you?re done with this paper you will be prepared for it. If you?re not then you can be
surprised by it like everyone else. Nanotechnology has begun to emerge and it will
forever change your life. The only question is how.
Starting basically, nanotechnology is an anticipated manufacturing technology giving
thorough, inexpensive control of the structure of matter. The term has sometimes been
used to refer to any technique able to work at a submicron scale. Nanotechnology will
enable the construction of giga-opperational computers smaller than a cubic micron; cell
repair machines; personal manufacturing and recycling plants; and much more.
Nanotechnology has many life-altering possibilities. It can be linked to many fields of
study and, in fact, is being developed in present day laboratories by the combined
efforts of many fields. Many of the fields have to do with the application of microscopic
ideas and techniques, such as microbiology. The three biggest areas of nanotechnology
application are that of medicine, manufacturing, and general lifestyle. To understand
more about how this technology can effect these areas you need to first understand the
basics behind the technology.
The discovery of nanotechnology is actually quite new. The first small uses of were
developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first breakthrough experiment was when
IBM (Yes the computer people) was able to draw a write the letters I, B, and M on a
nickel crystal surface using individual Xenon atoms. The three letters were a combined 50
billionths of an inch wide. This simple, and seemingly pointless experiment, finally gave
evidence that individual atoms could be manipulated by human hands. This spurred a great
leap into the design of nanotechnology theory. Eric Drexler began the first comprehensive
study of nanotechnology theory in 1986 when he wrote his book entitled ?Engines of
Creation.? In his book Drexler outlined the basic principles behind current
nanotechnology theory. Drexler states that life as we know it now shows us that
nanotechnology is possible. The entire basis of nanotechnology is the creation of what
Drexler calls an ?assembler.? An assembler is a nanoscopically small robot that
manipulates individual atoms through contained chemical reactions to assemble the atoms
into desired molecular patterns. Such an assembler could build a one hundred percent pure
diamond literally out of thin air. Nature already has created it?s own assemblers. The
assemblers of most organic life are called ribosomes. These tiny little cells, which are
only a few cubic nanometers large, can build proteins out of the amino acids that they
gather from there surroundings. These proteins are the basis for all life on Earth,
because it is through these proteins that DNA is created. If nature can have its
assemblers than naturally so can we.
The application of nanotechnology in medicine is called nanomedicine (for obvious
reasons). Looking through the basics of nanotechnology there are huge implications in
medicine for Drexler's little assemblers. Taking a small army of assemblers, probably
close to hundred thousand, and giving them access to the write proteins would allow the
rapid creation of transplant organs for specific patients. No chance of the patient
rejecting the organ or tissue would occur because the nanorobots could assemble the
transplants to match the patients exact DNA coding. Perhaps the most simplistic nanorobot
would be the artificial red blood cell which Drexler?s assemblers would have to build.
Such a robot would be composed entirely of diamond and would act as only a simple
pressure tank. You may ask why the robot should be composed of diamond. The answer is
that diamond is a chemically neutral substance, and is thus unaffected by the bodies
natural immune system. The robot would simply float through the blood stream. Upon
entering an oxygen rich area (the lungs), the nanorobot would fill is inner tank with
oxygen molecules. As it passed out of the lungs and entered other areas of the body it
could be programmed to release the oxygen in a controlled manner and then pick up Carbon
Dioxide molecules to empty out in its return trip to the oxygen rich area. The obvious
questions come to mind when nanomedical robots are explained. How would they be
controlled? How would they be controlled? The questions can go on forever. Such questions
however would take up far to much space in this paper to answer. I will leave their
explanation to those of higher authority and intelligence.
Thus far I have discussed assemblers as having to do mostly with the biological. Now let
me take this to the non-biological. Drexler?s assemblers primary function is in the
non-biological. Being as the assemblers themselves are nanoscopic robots they have to
have thousand upon millions upon millions of themselves to be able to build anything at a
very fast rate. If you wanted to build a one-carat diamond it would take a single
assembler thirty-two million years to build. Now if that robot could build copies of
itself the robot would have enough copies after fourteen hours to be able to build a
one-carat diamond in just under one million years. If the copies mad copies of
themselves, then after fourteen hours there would be enough robots to build the one-carat
diamond in just under a second! This little example brings into an important concept in
nanotechnology, self-replication. Self-replication allows the nanorobots to construct
virtually any structure in record time. Now what if you have had a huge building in your
way before you could build anything? The nanorobots could be programmed to self-replicate
using the building as their primary source of material for replication. The robots would
then start to build copies of themselves by pulling the atoms and molecules they need
from the obtrusive building. After a few hours you would have a completely demolished
building and an excess of new nanorobots to do your bidding. The greatest benefit of the
entire process is that there is little to no waste involved. These examples may seem
far-fetched at the moment, but according to Drexler such a reality is closer than most
may think.
Nanomedicine may sound great, and nanorobotic building may sound practical, but where
does nanotechnology hit home? The answers may already be creeping into your household. If
you have ever eaten a genetically altered fruit of vegetable you have an idea of the
possible home implications of nanotechnology. Why go to the grocery store when you can
construct fresh fruit from a bottle of general amino acids and proteins. There goes your
supermarket. It?s been reduced to a simple pop-like vending machine that sells you your
acids and proteins. If you?re driving on your way to work you will never have to worry
about an accident with you and another driver, because your car is composed entirely of
nanorobots. The little robots will make sure that they don?t come in contact with robots
of another car. How could you car be made out of little robots you ask? Here enters in
another interesting principle of nanotechnology. You don?t necessarily need to create
items by having the robots assemble surrounding atoms. You could build items using the
robots them selves. By grasping each other with little nanoscopic ?hands? each robot
could hold onto others and create a solid object. Now you can create almost endless
objects that cane be assembled and dissembled from robots within seconds.
All of this technology is breathtaking and astounding. It fill eventually pass itno
reality and become part of our everyday lives. The only uncertanty is when. Some
projections estimate that nanotechnology, as I have describied it above, will come about
within the next twenty years. Other less optomistic sources put it somewhere into the
next fifty years. All that be done until then is to prepare for it?s coming. What I have
described above is only a small potential of what nanotechnology can do. I have also
neglected to delve into the potential for nanotechnology to be used for ill. Unfortunate
as it may seem, many of humanities greates discoveries have come out of developments for
wars. The possibility that the first nanotechnology break through may come from
developments of a wartime research program is probably not likely in our time. It is
certainly possible that such discoveries could be made in current peace time defensive
research programs. How or when such discoveries come is, in the end, actually quite
irrelevant. Nanotechnology will come, and it will revolutionize our lives. It will be the
worlds next ?Industrial Revolution.? Will you be ready for it?
Bibliography
Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler