Eric Drexler Describes How Nanotechnology Will Create A New Kind of Revolution

 Nanotechnology  

The father of modern nanotechnology, Eric Drexler says that "The prospect ahead of us is for a revolution at the foundations of our material civilization. A revolution coming out of a new kind of nanotechnology."

What if we were really good at making things—better products of all kinds—in a clean way, at a very low cost, and on a global scale? What if today's industrial and energy infrastructure could be replaced with clean, zero-carbon emission technologies at a rapid pace?

Eric Drexler asked these and other questions at a recent TEDx Talk in Portugal.  The author of Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization, is rightfully considered the father of modern nanotechnology.

According to Drexler, "The prospect ahead of us is for a revolution at the foundations of our material civilization.  A revolution coming out of a new kind of nanotechnology."

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In his book, Radical Abundance, he shows how rapid scientific progress is about to change our world. Thanks to atomically precise manufacturing (Drexler's specific term for nanotechnology), we will soon have the power to produce radically more of what people want, and at a lower cost. The result will shake the very foundations of our economy and environment.

Already, scientists have constructed prototypes for circuit boards built of millions of precisely arranged atoms. The advent of this kind of atomic precision promises to change the way we make things—cleanly, inexpensively, and on a global scale. It allows us to imagine a world where solar arrays cost no more than cardboard and aluminum foil, and laptops cost about the same.

According to Drexler, nanotechnology will bring about a profound revolution in the material basis of our civilization and radically different prospects for the 21st century.

Technology of this scope and power is visible in the distance today, not close, but accessible through a series of advances in nanotechnology and the molecular sciences. By merging digital and manufacturing principles at the molecular scale, atomically precise manufacturing can transform our world. It's time to expand the horizons of our conversation about the future.


SOURCE  TEDx ISTAlameda

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