Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution - Softcover

Drexler, Eric; Peterson, Chris; Pergamit, Gayle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0688125735 ISBN 13: 9780688125738

Publisher: Quill, 1993

Synopsis

Explains how nanotechnology--the ability to create new compounds by altering molecules--may eliminate disease and pollution, and revolutionize industry

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

More speculation on the implications of nanotechnology--the manufacture of objects from the atoms up--that is likely, say the authors, to profoundly alter within our lifetimes the course of modern medicine, warfare, the environment, and the world economy. Peterson and Pergamit were collaborators on Drexler's previous Engines of Creation (1986). Five years have passed since Drexler, an MIT graduate and now a Stanford Visiting Scholar, first announced in the popular media the coming of molecule-sized machines that could not only produce extremely reliable, uniform, recyclable, inexpensive, and ``smart'' products (housepaint that smooths and cleans itself; molecular machines that identify and destroy cancer cells; microscopic concoctions that break pollutants down into harmless components) but also could supplant the earth's petroleum-based manufacturing industry with enormously more energy-efficient, precise, and environmentally safe methods. Such technology is not only already technically feasible, the authors claim, but its development, which would dwarf the computer and communications revolutions and could enable Third World countries to skip the dreaded industrial phase of development altogether, is practically a foregone conclusion. Economic competition demands a more concerted and better-funded research-and-development effort by the US (Japan's Tokyo Institute of Technology is already actively exploring nanotechnology's possibilities), while the new technology's potential for revolutionizing weapons manufacture demands public thought and discussion now--before the revolution takes place. Extreme oversimplification of the technical descriptions may be off-putting to readers with more than a high-school education, but intriguing discussions of ethical issues and several sobering future-world scenarios render this an important and provocative bulletin from exploratory engineering's front lines. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal

Nanotechnology sounds like a fantasy straight out of Star Wars , but then 50 years ago so did many of the things that we take for granted today--space exploration, computer chips, organ transplants, etc. The term ("Nano" comes from the Greek word meaning "dwarf") refers to "the products and processes of molecular manufacturing, including molecular machinery." The idea of molecular technology was first mentioned in 1959 by Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, but until fairly recently little was done here. The Japanese, however, forged ahead with research and have built the Nanotechnology Center. Drexler, one of the leading proponents of nanotechnology and author of the only other book on the subject, Engines of Creation ( LJ 6/1/86), offers a fascinating glimpse at this new science that will affect almost every aspect of human existence--environment, agriculture, transportation, communications, medicine, etc. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- Eugenia C. Adams, Univ. of Houston-Downtown Lib.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Quill
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688125735
• ISBN 13: 9780688125738
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 366