 |
|
[Reviewed in THE FUTURIST, July-August 2005]
What's Next for Nanotechnology by J. Storrs Hall. Prometheus Books. 2005. 328 pages. $28. Available from the Futurist Bookshelf, www.wfs.org/bkshelf.htm
Nano Design's Macro Impacts
by Timothy C. Mack
Nanotech researcher J. Storrs Hall here offers a very helpful primer on the potential for a critical segment of modern technology. As opposed to many other overviews of nanotechnology, Nanofuture provides useful detail on the underlying physical principles of nanotech. Hall also describes the special advantages that come with working at a very small scale, including the increase in repetition speed in nanofactory production facilities and the effects of essential self-assembly dynamics.
In addition to a review of the relevant physics, Hall also explains the workings of nanomachines and nanofactories (construction of nano-bearings, pumps, and motors, as well as the lack of wear at the molecular level). As Eric Drexler's book Engines of Creation has shaped many people's understanding of nanotechnology, desktop factories are now a common concept. But Hall makes the important point that precise placement of materials at the atomic level is much more representative of nanotech's long-range potential—i.e., designing at the molecular level and below—than the mere use of materials smaller than 100 nanometers in size. He is also quite frank that we do not yet have the ability to do such precise nano-assembly on a large scale.
One strong area of discussion in the book is nanomedicine, including controlling aging through the repair of damaged cells, removal of dysfunctional cells, checking for mutated cells, removal of cellular waste, and inspection of extracellular structures. On the policy side, Hall also addresses the social and economic impacts of increased longevity, population density and available resources.
Redesigning humans is one of the more socially complex applications explored in Nanofuture, including improvements in human physical capability, endurance, and learning ability. Hall raises such questions as whether you are the same person after major enhancement and whether machines with electronic artificial intelligence and brain-augmented humans become peers before the law.
His thought-experiment version of scenario building produces interesting results in areas like clothing design, which may yield such breakthroughs as interactive and form-fitting "nanoskin" that could protect us from cold, damp, and shock. Another fairly well detailed thought experiment is private personal aircraft; that is, vertical takeoff and landing planes with flexible and interactive surfaces that could provide relatively cheap, efficient and quiet transportation for individuals—realizations of the aircars of early science fiction.
The most detailed discussion of social, economic, and political changes that might result from nanotech concerns the ever-present political opposition to its continued development. This opposition might ultimately result in extensive regulatory limitations on the further applications of nanotech, much as was done with nuclear power in the last century. Hall speaks strongly against such extreme regulation, arguing that the common-sense controls that have guided scientific development in the past should serve to guard humanity in the future.
The author points out that the negative and fearful response to nanotech in some developed countries may mean that less-regulated regions such as Asia and South America will move ahead of them in the nanotechnology marketplace. One possible factor driving regulation is that nanotech application designers are not always careful about mitigating every possible risk of new uses. And the properties of common materials can change considerably at the nanoscale, such as gold becoming a poison or an antibacterial agent.
Hall ultimately paints a glowing picture of the future of nanotech, with its possibility for prosperity and human capacity here on earth. And through the development of stronger, lighter, and more durable materials, there is also the possibility of a renewed, viable, and affordable space program.
About the Reviewer
Timothy C. Mack is president of the World Future Society.
return to top
COPYRIGHT © 2005 WORLD FUTURE SOCIETY
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, Maryland 20814.
Tel. 301-656-8274. E-mail info@wfs.org. Web site http://www.wfs.org.
All rights reserved.