What do you think?
Rate this book
Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology
This brilliant work heralds the new age of nanotechnology, which will give us thorough and inexpensive control of the structure of matter. Drexler examines the enormous implications of these developments for medicine, the economy, and the environment, and makes astounding yet well-founded projections for the future.
299 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
November 10, 2018
Be it space lift, nanobots or quantum computers. Nanotechnology makes it all possible.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
Imagine, billions of small machines are floating in your blood. Once an organ has a minor malfunction, they are on hand to fix the problem. If an aging process starts, it is reversed by the diligent helpers. If you accidentally cut your finger, the wound closes after seconds and heals in hours. To accelerate the healing process, another model of robots transports pharmaceutical agents directly to the injury.
Science fiction? Yes. Still. But for how long?
The visionary power of the work has undoubtedly spurred more than a handful of scientists' careers. Drexler is one of the greatest and most influential prophets of all time. The visionary power to predict the development so accurately is almost unique.
Where you have to differentiate. Perhaps some research approaches would not have been pursued without his impulses. Or much later. In addition to biotechnology, nanotechnology is the key technology to finally get all the eggs out of one basket. Without this brilliant duo, the colonization of space will not be possible. And before that, together they will tackle the more profane endeavor of solving all human problems and succeed.
Of course, there are also risks such as a grey goo scenario or, in the case of biotechnology, the super-epidemic created by humans themselves. Whether it's worth, the risk is out of the question. Because it will be made out of business interests anyway. Thus, it is a waste of time to deal with it and to be afraid. Either the jump to other worlds succeeds, or we eradicate ourselves trying to do so.
Or a dictatorship in the distant future uses the even smaller successors of nanorobots to directly control the mind, emotions, and opinions of people in the brain. Without them even noticing. Which raises the question of how to exclude today, that this is not precisely what is happening to us since a very long time without even noticing it. That intelligence and consciousness could not have developed without receiving midwifery this way.
The striking similarity of the real functioning of the DNA and RNA and potential design and function plans of nanorobots opens up space for hypotheses. If the basic building blocks of life have similar underlying principles of functioning as synthetic organisms, there must be a connection. A still to be found context between artificially produced intelligence and biological intelligence in the form of molecular machines. Both seem to be based on entirely simple basic instructions and rules. In their elaborate interplay, they mutate, evolving by themselves, and bring forth immense biodiversity.
There are no limits to nanotechnology. A comparison with the fire illustrates the potentials. Man learned from many generations to use it for himself. The power of energy in the form of weapons, engines, machines, power plants, etc. are continuations of the use of relatively trivial energy. With nanotechnology, we are at this beginning. We are running around hooting with torches, wallowing in our genius and maybe triggering one or the other, hopefully, non-devastating wildfire (gray goo). If you add 100, 1000 or even 10000 years and you include cooperation with AI and genetic engineering, nothing is impossible.
For example, a spacelift that is first used to build orbital stations. The more lifts and stations are created, the more material can be sent directly into space. All this without the current restriction to primitive, chemically powered rockets. Colonization can progress exponentially faster and faster. Space travel is only realistic thanks to the new materials.
An effective cure and therapy of several diseases and the solution of problems of the environment, scarcity, production bottlenecks, food production, etc. are possible. If primitive, visible robots already do so much work, invisible helpers can do much more. Not only can they maintain and repair their vast archaic predecessors, but they can also modify themselves.
One will no longer need a production line with fully automated robots, where everything from delivery to shipping is done without people. This will be like the stone age for our heirs in the Nano Age. They will not understand the meaning or even sense of such ineffective mass production.
Because by self-assembly and initial support by 3D printers and other machines, the robots will be able to produce everything from the primary materials provided. No extra waste of energy or long transport paths will be necessary if everything can be built on demand within a short time.
The most significant potential unfolds when nanotechnology and biotechnology are coordinated. For example, when gene therapy, a newly developed vaccine, etc. benefits from the physical support of nanorobots.
When new genetic engineered forms of life restore nature while nanobots assist them. The fusion of the benefits of both natural and human technologies will make cyborgs and transhumanist ideas a reality. In combination with an interconnecting future Internet, one can speak of the emergence of a Gaia organism.
The effects on quantum computers and computing power will make us look like antique bean counters with abacuses. Like the miniaturization and Moore's Law in the previous development, the steady improvement in the smaller and smaller machines will scratch on the building blocks and layers of reality. There are no limits to successive reduction. We know too little that we could rule that out.
For example, that the robots are built up to the size of the quantum plane or what lies underneath. This could open the door to a scenario in which the robots can fumble around on the foundations of reality. That one can manipulate the laws of space and time with their programming. That would put software engineers in the status of gods.
As postulated by the incredibly awesome simulation hypothesis, the robots could then be the executing programming instances. And the smallest components of reality the source code of life. And we computer programs in an existence operated by some higher entity.
Maybe in this way, universes begin to emerge. When nanorobots become quantum robots and eventually transform into something beyond the still impossible to enter and therefore forbidden zones. And then it comes to a data explosion as with software or the Internet. Except that out of the source code, programs and algorithms instead of images, videos, and words universes, dimensions, multiverses, and parallel universes are formed.
Ab Weltraumlift, Nanobots oder Quantencomputer. Die Nanotechnologie macht es möglich
Stellen sie sich vor, in ihrem Blut schwimmen Milliarden kleine Maschinen umher. Sobald ein Organ eine kleine Funktionsstörung hat, sind sie flugs zur Stelle, um den Fehler zu reparieren. Setzt ein Alterungsprozess ein, wird er von den emsigen Helfern umgekehrt. Schneiden sie sich aus Versehen fast den Finger ab, schließt sich die Wunde nach Sekunden und heilt in Stunden. Um den Heilungsprozess zu beschleunigen, transportiert ein anderes Modell von Robotern pharmazeutische Wirkstoffe direkt zur Wunde.
Science Fiction? Ja. Noch. Aber für wie lange?
Die visionäre Kraft des Werkes hat gewiss mehr als eine Hand voll Karrieren von Wissenschaftlern angestoßen. Drexler ist einer der größten und einflussreichsten Propheten aller Zeiten. Die visionäre Kraft, die Entwicklung derartig akkurat vorherzusagen, ist fast schon einzigartig. Wobei man differenzieren muss. Vielleicht wären manche Forschungsansätze ohne seine Impulse gar nicht erst so verfolgt worden. Oder erst viel später. Neben der Biotechnologie ist die Nanotechnologie die Schlüsseltechnik, um endlich alle Eier aus einem Korb heraus zu bekommen. Ohne dieses geniale Duo wird die Kolonialisierung des Weltraums nicht möglich sein. Und davor werden sie gemeinsam das profanere Unterfangen der Lösung sämtlicher Menschheitsprobleme in Angriff nehmen und dabei Erfolg haben.
Sicher gibt es auch Risiken, wie ein Grey Goo Szenario oder bei der Biotechnologie die von Menschen selbst geschaffene Superseuche. Ob es das Risiko wert ist, steht nicht zur Debatte. Denn es wird aus Wirtschaftsinteressen ohnehin gemacht werden. Somit ist es Zeitverschwendung, sich damit zu beschäftigen und sich zu fürchten. Entweder der Sprung auf weitere Welten gelingt oder wir löschen uns beim Versuch dazu selbst aus.
Oder eine Diktatur in ferner Zukunft verwendet die noch kleineren Nachfolger von Nanorobotern, um direkt im Gehirn die Gedanken, Emotionen und Meinungen der Menschen zu kontrollieren. Ohne dass diese es überhaupt merken. Was die Frage aufwirft, wie man heute ausschließen kann, dass nicht genau das schon seit langer Zeit passiert. Dass Intelligenz und Bewusstsein nicht auf diesem Weg Geburtshilfe erhalten haben könnten.
Die frappierende Ähnlichkeit der realen Funktionsweise der DNA und RNA und potentiellen Konstruktions- und Funktionsplänen von Nanorobotern öffnet Raum für Hypothesen. Wenn die Grundbausteine des Lebens ähnliche, zugrunde liegende Funktionsprinzipien haben wie künstliche Organismen, muss es einen Zusammenhang geben. Einen noch zu findenden Kontext zwischen künstlich hergestellter Intelligenz und biologischer Intelligenz in Form von molekularen Maschinen. Beide scheinen auf recht schlichten Grundinstruktionen und Regeln zu beruhen. In ihrem komplexen Zusammenspiel mutieren sie, von selbst evolvierend, weiter und bringen einen ungemeinen Artenreichtum hervor.
Der Nanotechnologie sind keine Grenzen gesetzt. Ein Vergleich mit dem Feuer veranschaulicht die Potentiale. Der Mensch lernte vor vielen Generationen, es für sich zu nutzen. Die Kraft der Energie in Form von Waffen, Motoren, Maschinen, Kraftwerken sind Fortsetzungen der Nutzung einer verhältnismäßig trivialen Energie. Mit der Nanotechnologie sind wir an diesem Beginn. Wir laufend johlend mit Fackeln herum, suhlen uns in unserer eigenen Genialität und lösen vielleicht den einen oder anderen, hoffentlich nicht verheerenden Flächenbrand (grey goo) aus. Wenn man 100, 1000 oder gar 10000 Jahre addiert und eine Kooperation mit KI und Gentechnik voraus setzt, ist nichts mehr unmöglich.
Etwa ein Weltraumlift, der zuerst zum Bau von Orbitalstationen genutzt benutzt wird. Je mehr Lifte und Stationen entstehen, desto mehr Material kann direkt weiter ins All geschickt werden. Das alles ohne die momentane Beschränkung auf primitive, chemisch angetriebene Raketen. Die Kolonialisierung kann exponentiell immer schneller voran schreiten. Die Raumfahrt wird durch die neuen Werkstoffe erst realistisch.
Eine effektive Heilung und Therapie etlicher Krankheiten und die Lösung von Problemen der Umwelt, Knappheit, Produktionsengpässen, Nahrungsmittelproduktion, usw sind möglich. Wenn bereits primitive, sichtbare Roboter Immenses leisten, können unsichtbare Helfer noch viel mehr. Sie können nicht nur ihre riesigen, archaischen Vorgänger warten und reparieren, sondern sich auch selbst modifizieren.
Man wird kein Produktionsfließband mit voll automatisierten Robotern mehr brauchen, bei dem alles von Anlieferung bis zu Versand ohne Menschen abläuft. Das wird für unsere Erben im Nanozeitalter steinzeitlich wirken. Sie werden denn Sinn einer solch ineffektiven Massenproduktion nicht verstehen.
Denn durch Selbstassemblierung und anfängliche Unterstützung durch 3D Drucker und andere Maschinen werden die Roboter aus zur Verfügung gestellten Grundstoffen alles fertigen können. Keine überschüssige Energieverschwendung oder lange Wege werden mehr notwendig, wenn alles innerhalb kurzer Zeit auf Wunsch hergestellt werden kann.
Das größte Potential entfaltet sich, wenn Nanotechnologie und Biotechnologie aufeinander abgestimmt werden. Etwa, wenn eine Gentherapie, ein neu entwickelter Impfstoff, usw von der physischen Unterstützung von Nanorobotern profitiert.
Wenn die Natur durch neue Lebensformen restauriert wird und Nanoroboter Schützenhilfe leisten. Die Fusion der Vorzüge beider Technologien in Natur und Mensch wird Cyborgs und transhumanistische Ideen Wirklichkeit werden lassen. In Kombination mit einem alles verbindenden Internet kann von der Entstehung eines Gaiaorganismus gesprochen werden.
Die Auswirkungen auf Quantencomputer und Rechenleistung werden uns wie antike Erbsenzähler mit Abakussen wirken lassen. So wie die Miniaturisierung und Mooresches Gesetz bei der bisherigen Entwicklung wird die stetige Verbesserung an den immer kleineren Bausteinen der Realität kratzen. Grundsätzlich sind der sukzessiven Verkleinerung keine Grenzen gesetzt. Wir wissen zu wenig, als dass wir das dezidiert ausschließen könnten.
Etwa dass man die Roboter bis in der Größe der Quantenebene oder was darunter liegen mag baut. Das könnte einem Szenario Tür und Tor öffnen, bei dem die Roboter an den Grundfesten der Realität herum pfuschen können. Dass man mit ihrer Programmierung die Gesetze von Raum und Zeit manipulieren kann. Das würde Softwareingenieure in den Status von Göttern erheben.
Wie von der, extrem geilen, Simulationshypothese postuliert, könnten die Roboter dann quasi die ausführenden Programmierinstanzen sein sein. Und die kleinsten Bausteine der Realität der Quellcode des Lebens. Und wir Computerprogramme in einer Realität, die von irgendeiner höheren Entität betrieben wird.
Vielleicht beginnen auf diese Art und Weise Universen zu entstehen. Wenn Nanoroboter zu Quantenrobotern und schließlich zu irgendetwas hinter den noch unerschließbaren und deswegen verbotenen Zonen werden. Und dann kommt es wie bei Software oder dem Internet zu einer Datenexplosion. Nur dass sich aus Quellcode, Programmen und Algorithmen statt Bildern, Videos und Wörtern stattdessen Universen, Dimensionen, Multiversen und Paralleluniversen bilden.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
Imagine, billions of small machines are floating in your blood. Once an organ has a minor malfunction, they are on hand to fix the problem. If an aging process starts, it is reversed by the diligent helpers. If you accidentally cut your finger, the wound closes after seconds and heals in hours. To accelerate the healing process, another model of robots transports pharmaceutical agents directly to the injury.
Science fiction? Yes. Still. But for how long?
The visionary power of the work has undoubtedly spurred more than a handful of scientists' careers. Drexler is one of the greatest and most influential prophets of all time. The visionary power to predict the development so accurately is almost unique.
Where you have to differentiate. Perhaps some research approaches would not have been pursued without his impulses. Or much later. In addition to biotechnology, nanotechnology is the key technology to finally get all the eggs out of one basket. Without this brilliant duo, the colonization of space will not be possible. And before that, together they will tackle the more profane endeavor of solving all human problems and succeed.
Of course, there are also risks such as a grey goo scenario or, in the case of biotechnology, the super-epidemic created by humans themselves. Whether it's worth, the risk is out of the question. Because it will be made out of business interests anyway. Thus, it is a waste of time to deal with it and to be afraid. Either the jump to other worlds succeeds, or we eradicate ourselves trying to do so.
Or a dictatorship in the distant future uses the even smaller successors of nanorobots to directly control the mind, emotions, and opinions of people in the brain. Without them even noticing. Which raises the question of how to exclude today, that this is not precisely what is happening to us since a very long time without even noticing it. That intelligence and consciousness could not have developed without receiving midwifery this way.
The striking similarity of the real functioning of the DNA and RNA and potential design and function plans of nanorobots opens up space for hypotheses. If the basic building blocks of life have similar underlying principles of functioning as synthetic organisms, there must be a connection. A still to be found context between artificially produced intelligence and biological intelligence in the form of molecular machines. Both seem to be based on entirely simple basic instructions and rules. In their elaborate interplay, they mutate, evolving by themselves, and bring forth immense biodiversity.
There are no limits to nanotechnology. A comparison with the fire illustrates the potentials. Man learned from many generations to use it for himself. The power of energy in the form of weapons, engines, machines, power plants, etc. are continuations of the use of relatively trivial energy. With nanotechnology, we are at this beginning. We are running around hooting with torches, wallowing in our genius and maybe triggering one or the other, hopefully, non-devastating wildfire (gray goo). If you add 100, 1000 or even 10000 years and you include cooperation with AI and genetic engineering, nothing is impossible.
For example, a spacelift that is first used to build orbital stations. The more lifts and stations are created, the more material can be sent directly into space. All this without the current restriction to primitive, chemically powered rockets. Colonization can progress exponentially faster and faster. Space travel is only realistic thanks to the new materials.
An effective cure and therapy of several diseases and the solution of problems of the environment, scarcity, production bottlenecks, food production, etc. are possible. If primitive, visible robots already do so much work, invisible helpers can do much more. Not only can they maintain and repair their vast archaic predecessors, but they can also modify themselves.
One will no longer need a production line with fully automated robots, where everything from delivery to shipping is done without people. This will be like the stone age for our heirs in the Nano Age. They will not understand the meaning or even sense of such ineffective mass production.
Because by self-assembly and initial support by 3D printers and other machines, the robots will be able to produce everything from the primary materials provided. No extra waste of energy or long transport paths will be necessary if everything can be built on demand within a short time.
The most significant potential unfolds when nanotechnology and biotechnology are coordinated. For example, when gene therapy, a newly developed vaccine, etc. benefits from the physical support of nanorobots.
When new genetic engineered forms of life restore nature while nanobots assist them. The fusion of the benefits of both natural and human technologies will make cyborgs and transhumanist ideas a reality. In combination with an interconnecting future Internet, one can speak of the emergence of a Gaia organism.
The effects on quantum computers and computing power will make us look like antique bean counters with abacuses. Like the miniaturization and Moore's Law in the previous development, the steady improvement in the smaller and smaller machines will scratch on the building blocks and layers of reality. There are no limits to successive reduction. We know too little that we could rule that out.
For example, that the robots are built up to the size of the quantum plane or what lies underneath. This could open the door to a scenario in which the robots can fumble around on the foundations of reality. That one can manipulate the laws of space and time with their programming. That would put software engineers in the status of gods.
As postulated by the incredibly awesome simulation hypothesis, the robots could then be the executing programming instances. And the smallest components of reality the source code of life. And we computer programs in an existence operated by some higher entity.
Maybe in this way, universes begin to emerge. When nanorobots become quantum robots and eventually transform into something beyond the still impossible to enter and therefore forbidden zones. And then it comes to a data explosion as with software or the Internet. Except that out of the source code, programs and algorithms instead of images, videos, and words universes, dimensions, multiverses, and parallel universes are formed.
Ab Weltraumlift, Nanobots oder Quantencomputer. Die Nanotechnologie macht es möglich
Stellen sie sich vor, in ihrem Blut schwimmen Milliarden kleine Maschinen umher. Sobald ein Organ eine kleine Funktionsstörung hat, sind sie flugs zur Stelle, um den Fehler zu reparieren. Setzt ein Alterungsprozess ein, wird er von den emsigen Helfern umgekehrt. Schneiden sie sich aus Versehen fast den Finger ab, schließt sich die Wunde nach Sekunden und heilt in Stunden. Um den Heilungsprozess zu beschleunigen, transportiert ein anderes Modell von Robotern pharmazeutische Wirkstoffe direkt zur Wunde.
Science Fiction? Ja. Noch. Aber für wie lange?
Die visionäre Kraft des Werkes hat gewiss mehr als eine Hand voll Karrieren von Wissenschaftlern angestoßen. Drexler ist einer der größten und einflussreichsten Propheten aller Zeiten. Die visionäre Kraft, die Entwicklung derartig akkurat vorherzusagen, ist fast schon einzigartig. Wobei man differenzieren muss. Vielleicht wären manche Forschungsansätze ohne seine Impulse gar nicht erst so verfolgt worden. Oder erst viel später. Neben der Biotechnologie ist die Nanotechnologie die Schlüsseltechnik, um endlich alle Eier aus einem Korb heraus zu bekommen. Ohne dieses geniale Duo wird die Kolonialisierung des Weltraums nicht möglich sein. Und davor werden sie gemeinsam das profanere Unterfangen der Lösung sämtlicher Menschheitsprobleme in Angriff nehmen und dabei Erfolg haben.
Sicher gibt es auch Risiken, wie ein Grey Goo Szenario oder bei der Biotechnologie die von Menschen selbst geschaffene Superseuche. Ob es das Risiko wert ist, steht nicht zur Debatte. Denn es wird aus Wirtschaftsinteressen ohnehin gemacht werden. Somit ist es Zeitverschwendung, sich damit zu beschäftigen und sich zu fürchten. Entweder der Sprung auf weitere Welten gelingt oder wir löschen uns beim Versuch dazu selbst aus.
Oder eine Diktatur in ferner Zukunft verwendet die noch kleineren Nachfolger von Nanorobotern, um direkt im Gehirn die Gedanken, Emotionen und Meinungen der Menschen zu kontrollieren. Ohne dass diese es überhaupt merken. Was die Frage aufwirft, wie man heute ausschließen kann, dass nicht genau das schon seit langer Zeit passiert. Dass Intelligenz und Bewusstsein nicht auf diesem Weg Geburtshilfe erhalten haben könnten.
Die frappierende Ähnlichkeit der realen Funktionsweise der DNA und RNA und potentiellen Konstruktions- und Funktionsplänen von Nanorobotern öffnet Raum für Hypothesen. Wenn die Grundbausteine des Lebens ähnliche, zugrunde liegende Funktionsprinzipien haben wie künstliche Organismen, muss es einen Zusammenhang geben. Einen noch zu findenden Kontext zwischen künstlich hergestellter Intelligenz und biologischer Intelligenz in Form von molekularen Maschinen. Beide scheinen auf recht schlichten Grundinstruktionen und Regeln zu beruhen. In ihrem komplexen Zusammenspiel mutieren sie, von selbst evolvierend, weiter und bringen einen ungemeinen Artenreichtum hervor.
Der Nanotechnologie sind keine Grenzen gesetzt. Ein Vergleich mit dem Feuer veranschaulicht die Potentiale. Der Mensch lernte vor vielen Generationen, es für sich zu nutzen. Die Kraft der Energie in Form von Waffen, Motoren, Maschinen, Kraftwerken sind Fortsetzungen der Nutzung einer verhältnismäßig trivialen Energie. Mit der Nanotechnologie sind wir an diesem Beginn. Wir laufend johlend mit Fackeln herum, suhlen uns in unserer eigenen Genialität und lösen vielleicht den einen oder anderen, hoffentlich nicht verheerenden Flächenbrand (grey goo) aus. Wenn man 100, 1000 oder gar 10000 Jahre addiert und eine Kooperation mit KI und Gentechnik voraus setzt, ist nichts mehr unmöglich.
Etwa ein Weltraumlift, der zuerst zum Bau von Orbitalstationen genutzt benutzt wird. Je mehr Lifte und Stationen entstehen, desto mehr Material kann direkt weiter ins All geschickt werden. Das alles ohne die momentane Beschränkung auf primitive, chemisch angetriebene Raketen. Die Kolonialisierung kann exponentiell immer schneller voran schreiten. Die Raumfahrt wird durch die neuen Werkstoffe erst realistisch.
Eine effektive Heilung und Therapie etlicher Krankheiten und die Lösung von Problemen der Umwelt, Knappheit, Produktionsengpässen, Nahrungsmittelproduktion, usw sind möglich. Wenn bereits primitive, sichtbare Roboter Immenses leisten, können unsichtbare Helfer noch viel mehr. Sie können nicht nur ihre riesigen, archaischen Vorgänger warten und reparieren, sondern sich auch selbst modifizieren.
Man wird kein Produktionsfließband mit voll automatisierten Robotern mehr brauchen, bei dem alles von Anlieferung bis zu Versand ohne Menschen abläuft. Das wird für unsere Erben im Nanozeitalter steinzeitlich wirken. Sie werden denn Sinn einer solch ineffektiven Massenproduktion nicht verstehen.
Denn durch Selbstassemblierung und anfängliche Unterstützung durch 3D Drucker und andere Maschinen werden die Roboter aus zur Verfügung gestellten Grundstoffen alles fertigen können. Keine überschüssige Energieverschwendung oder lange Wege werden mehr notwendig, wenn alles innerhalb kurzer Zeit auf Wunsch hergestellt werden kann.
Das größte Potential entfaltet sich, wenn Nanotechnologie und Biotechnologie aufeinander abgestimmt werden. Etwa, wenn eine Gentherapie, ein neu entwickelter Impfstoff, usw von der physischen Unterstützung von Nanorobotern profitiert.
Wenn die Natur durch neue Lebensformen restauriert wird und Nanoroboter Schützenhilfe leisten. Die Fusion der Vorzüge beider Technologien in Natur und Mensch wird Cyborgs und transhumanistische Ideen Wirklichkeit werden lassen. In Kombination mit einem alles verbindenden Internet kann von der Entstehung eines Gaiaorganismus gesprochen werden.
Die Auswirkungen auf Quantencomputer und Rechenleistung werden uns wie antike Erbsenzähler mit Abakussen wirken lassen. So wie die Miniaturisierung und Mooresches Gesetz bei der bisherigen Entwicklung wird die stetige Verbesserung an den immer kleineren Bausteinen der Realität kratzen. Grundsätzlich sind der sukzessiven Verkleinerung keine Grenzen gesetzt. Wir wissen zu wenig, als dass wir das dezidiert ausschließen könnten.
Etwa dass man die Roboter bis in der Größe der Quantenebene oder was darunter liegen mag baut. Das könnte einem Szenario Tür und Tor öffnen, bei dem die Roboter an den Grundfesten der Realität herum pfuschen können. Dass man mit ihrer Programmierung die Gesetze von Raum und Zeit manipulieren kann. Das würde Softwareingenieure in den Status von Göttern erheben.
Wie von der, extrem geilen, Simulationshypothese postuliert, könnten die Roboter dann quasi die ausführenden Programmierinstanzen sein sein. Und die kleinsten Bausteine der Realität der Quellcode des Lebens. Und wir Computerprogramme in einer Realität, die von irgendeiner höheren Entität betrieben wird.
Vielleicht beginnen auf diese Art und Weise Universen zu entstehen. Wenn Nanoroboter zu Quantenrobotern und schließlich zu irgendetwas hinter den noch unerschließbaren und deswegen verbotenen Zonen werden. Und dann kommt es wie bei Software oder dem Internet zu einer Datenexplosion. Nur dass sich aus Quellcode, Programmen und Algorithmen statt Bildern, Videos und Wörtern stattdessen Universen, Dimensionen, Multiversen und Paralleluniversen bilden.
September 15, 2013
Beautifully bonkers, Drexler's optimistic, visionary tract seems absurdly far fetched nowadays. But, that is most likely because the end result - tiny self replicating machines, structures made of pure diamond, cheap energy and creation, bootstrapping and plenitude, luxury and material wealth for all - would be a kind of utopia.
Nevertheless, given some hundreds of years, it may well happen that a world like his will emerge, nanotechnology or no. Certainly, we seem to be approaching limits ever smaller, yet these are till titanically more vast than the nanoscale.
If nothing else Engines of Creation is a paen to engineering and material science, soteriological hymn to technology, perhaps as response to 80s politics, perhaps as personal obsession for Drexler, perhaps as unique expression of a scientist's wish to do moral good by providing the conceptual bedrock for creation of material abundance and freedom from care and pain and want. What greater motive than the promise of curing all disease? extending life? colonising other worlds? we may scoff at his optimism, but we would do well to remember Clarke's dictum: 'Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Indeed, our descendants may one day have the magic given them by this modern day Prometheus. Meantime, we - groping vainly after distant hope - can only dream of their future. If it is anything like Drexler's dream, they might count themselves lucky as they judge us fools for wanting without chance of having.
Nevertheless, given some hundreds of years, it may well happen that a world like his will emerge, nanotechnology or no. Certainly, we seem to be approaching limits ever smaller, yet these are till titanically more vast than the nanoscale.
If nothing else Engines of Creation is a paen to engineering and material science, soteriological hymn to technology, perhaps as response to 80s politics, perhaps as personal obsession for Drexler, perhaps as unique expression of a scientist's wish to do moral good by providing the conceptual bedrock for creation of material abundance and freedom from care and pain and want. What greater motive than the promise of curing all disease? extending life? colonising other worlds? we may scoff at his optimism, but we would do well to remember Clarke's dictum: 'Any significantly advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Indeed, our descendants may one day have the magic given them by this modern day Prometheus. Meantime, we - groping vainly after distant hope - can only dream of their future. If it is anything like Drexler's dream, they might count themselves lucky as they judge us fools for wanting without chance of having.
May 15, 2018
An interesting early look at nanotech.
Bottom line summary: Nanotechnology is coming. It will either save us or destroy us.
Research for WIP
Bottom line summary: Nanotechnology is coming. It will either save us or destroy us.
Research for WIP
March 25, 2022
I read this book aiming to get a sense of what we should expect nanotech to be capable of, and secondarily to get a look at the early days of x-risk forecasting with the "gray goo" worries. In fact, Drexler spends surprisingly little time talking about nanotechnology - a lot of the page count is taken up by surprisingly low-rigor discussion of evolution, entropy, etc. I did get some useful information about Drexler's vision for nanotech and its abilities. But on the gray goo scenario, Drexler seems shockingly unconcerned. He basically advocates for the hypertext medium to facilitate a mass marketplace of ideas, which he hopes will allow society to reason about technology better and navigate the transition successfully. That's an insanely dangerous place to leave off the discussion about how to prevent the end of the world, imo. Interesting overall, but lots of stuff that could/should have been cut/ignored.
Notes:
• Protein engineering is essentially blocked by understanding. We have rough heuristics for protein folding, but that's not good enough for a cost-effective engineering loop on complex proteins
• Published in 1986, predicted de novo protein synthesis within 10-15 years
• Thinks protein engineering will be the first step - we ultimately want to build our nanomachines out of more durable materials. Protein engineering isn't the final tech, just the launch step for proper second-gen nanomachines
• Basically any objection to molecular engineering in principle is answered by biology. Quantum uncertainty, heat vibrations, and radiation damage are all engineering concerns - but cells deal with them just fine.
• Computation could be done with mechanical computers, since they are much faster at small scales
• "Assemblers will take years to emerge, but their emergence seems almost inevitable: Though the path to assemblers has many steps, each step will bring the next in reach, and each will bring immediate rewards."
○ Says first steps are already being taken, known as genetic engineering
○ Is protein-folding-like-difficulty the bottleneck for this? Does AlphaFold make nano-risk relevant again?
• Starting with a test tube full of free RNA bases, some short strands will self-assemble. Some of these will be able to produce other RNA strands, and eventually self-replicate. Sample from the tube once free bases are depleted and "infect" a new one, and you can do controlled evolution in just RNA. Apparently this reliably converges to roughly one sequence of 220 bases, which is the best (findable given our approximate search power) RNA replicator in an environment with only free bases and other RNA.
• Long and kind of weird discussion of evolution, arguing that the design of technology is a form of evolution - the selection just happens implicitly during the ideation, selection, and testing processes. I guess I agree with the core idea, if you play it fast and loose enough - I'd rather say technology is an optimization process than an instance of proper evolution.
• Pretty lengthy discussion of memetic selection too. This cool Popper quote came out of it though:
○ "The critical attitude may be described as the conscious attempt to make our theories, our conjectures, suffer in our stead in the struggle for the survival of the fittest. It gives us a chance to survive the elimination of an inadequate hypothesis - when a more dogmatic attitude would eliminate it by eliminating us."
• Most organisms do not fabricate everything fully "from scratch" - they rely on a lot of pre-fabricated components, like vitamins. In the natural environment these are produced by other replicators who do make them from scratch, but the point is that we can make early replicator tech much easier by supplying the limiting components pre-built
○ "Engineers in NASA-sponsored studies have proposed using such semi-replicators in space, allowing space industry to expand with only a small input of sophisticated parts from Earth"
• Anticipates nano-scale versions of things that look like bulk tech! Conveyor belts, assembly lines, robot arms
• "These assemblers will work fast. A fast enzyme, such as carbonic anhydrase or ketosteroid isomerase, can process almost a million molecules per second, even without conveyors and power-driven mechanisms to slap a new molecule into place as soon as an old one is released."
• Estimates an arm will be about a million atoms, and the computer 100 million. Total replicator, about 150 million. Working at 1 million atoms per second, replication time about 15 minutes
○ This seems generous, but fair for order-of-magnitude
○ 15-minute doubling time extrapolates out to about a ton in one day, the mass of the earth in two days
• Nanotech is great for fabricating highly optimized versions of existing bulk tech. Simple example is rockets, where strength/weight ratio is key, and could be reduced by a factor of 10.
○ How much does this matter for viability of space industry? Rocket equation is mostly concerned with fuel weight, not rocket weight, right?
• Assembler technology will lead to a new age of whale-fall - post-scarcity for a while, until we start bumping into real physical limits
• Nanomachines seem like they can pretty much heal whatever, as long as the necessary information is available. Like if you need to fix a broken piece, or remove waste products that shouldn't be there, or otherwise restoring things to some default when you know what the default state should be. But unique neural patterns can't be restored once the information is lost, even given perfect atomic manipulation abilities
• Metastasis has focused on freezing (cryonics) because most human cells restart activity spontaneously upon freezing and thawing
• The prospects of nanotech are likely to remain fixed across plausible revolutions in physics. We have pretty solid empirical contact with the phenomena needed, and all the exotic stuff is quite unstable. Unless some new highly exotic behavior that's yet unexplored somehow produces stable particles
• Rifkin's arguments about entropy seem weird, but Drexler's counterexample using evaporation to separate salt and water in a closed system is also obviously invalid - if the sunlight enters, it's not a closed system, bud
• True redundancy (independent failures, different designs to account for design errors) leads to exponential growth in expected-time-to-failure: this makes it easy to put highly redundant safety mechanisms that will make failure wildly unlikely, but comes with increased weight, bulk, cost, etc.
• "dangerous replicators will be far simpler to design than systems that can thwart them, just as a bacterium is far simpler than an immune system"
• We can make replicators safe by preventing evolution via super-low mutation rate, or designing intentionally brittle mechanisms that will fail if mutated, or by designing a need for artificial "vitamins", etc.
• Drexler says that organisms are "evolved to evolve" - we are good at evolving because we descended from animals that evolve. That seems wack. How does me being "good at evolving" benefit any of my genes?
• Even if we can use these (hopefully relatively cheap) security mechanisms to make sure the first round of replicators don't go wrong, it'll still be hard to prevent misuse (or even accident) risks from cropping up eventually. We have to learn to defend against rampant nanotech, but can do so from the position of having an established order working against some small destructive power, not the other way around
• Static shields won't work to contain nanobots, but active shields can
• Proposes that in arms race dynamics, sides can work together to develop systems that defend both sides, but threaten neither. Example: neutral territory, general-purpose anti-missile defenses. Relaxes arms race on both sides
○ Uhhh, no? This worsens the arms race, because whoever figures out how to bypass the system first gets a safe first strike
• Technology is hard to govern fairly, since it requires significant investment to understand. Drexler proposes a sort of fact forum procedure for improving technological governance - basically, his stab at producing the idealized "marketplace of idea" (or evolution arena or something, as he would probably call it)
• Thought that hypertext would be a good forum for discussing ideas. Internet forums might be better than whatever the situation was before, but they're still quite bad
Notes:
• Protein engineering is essentially blocked by understanding. We have rough heuristics for protein folding, but that's not good enough for a cost-effective engineering loop on complex proteins
• Published in 1986, predicted de novo protein synthesis within 10-15 years
• Thinks protein engineering will be the first step - we ultimately want to build our nanomachines out of more durable materials. Protein engineering isn't the final tech, just the launch step for proper second-gen nanomachines
• Basically any objection to molecular engineering in principle is answered by biology. Quantum uncertainty, heat vibrations, and radiation damage are all engineering concerns - but cells deal with them just fine.
• Computation could be done with mechanical computers, since they are much faster at small scales
• "Assemblers will take years to emerge, but their emergence seems almost inevitable: Though the path to assemblers has many steps, each step will bring the next in reach, and each will bring immediate rewards."
○ Says first steps are already being taken, known as genetic engineering
○ Is protein-folding-like-difficulty the bottleneck for this? Does AlphaFold make nano-risk relevant again?
• Starting with a test tube full of free RNA bases, some short strands will self-assemble. Some of these will be able to produce other RNA strands, and eventually self-replicate. Sample from the tube once free bases are depleted and "infect" a new one, and you can do controlled evolution in just RNA. Apparently this reliably converges to roughly one sequence of 220 bases, which is the best (findable given our approximate search power) RNA replicator in an environment with only free bases and other RNA.
• Long and kind of weird discussion of evolution, arguing that the design of technology is a form of evolution - the selection just happens implicitly during the ideation, selection, and testing processes. I guess I agree with the core idea, if you play it fast and loose enough - I'd rather say technology is an optimization process than an instance of proper evolution.
• Pretty lengthy discussion of memetic selection too. This cool Popper quote came out of it though:
○ "The critical attitude may be described as the conscious attempt to make our theories, our conjectures, suffer in our stead in the struggle for the survival of the fittest. It gives us a chance to survive the elimination of an inadequate hypothesis - when a more dogmatic attitude would eliminate it by eliminating us."
• Most organisms do not fabricate everything fully "from scratch" - they rely on a lot of pre-fabricated components, like vitamins. In the natural environment these are produced by other replicators who do make them from scratch, but the point is that we can make early replicator tech much easier by supplying the limiting components pre-built
○ "Engineers in NASA-sponsored studies have proposed using such semi-replicators in space, allowing space industry to expand with only a small input of sophisticated parts from Earth"
• Anticipates nano-scale versions of things that look like bulk tech! Conveyor belts, assembly lines, robot arms
• "These assemblers will work fast. A fast enzyme, such as carbonic anhydrase or ketosteroid isomerase, can process almost a million molecules per second, even without conveyors and power-driven mechanisms to slap a new molecule into place as soon as an old one is released."
• Estimates an arm will be about a million atoms, and the computer 100 million. Total replicator, about 150 million. Working at 1 million atoms per second, replication time about 15 minutes
○ This seems generous, but fair for order-of-magnitude
○ 15-minute doubling time extrapolates out to about a ton in one day, the mass of the earth in two days
• Nanotech is great for fabricating highly optimized versions of existing bulk tech. Simple example is rockets, where strength/weight ratio is key, and could be reduced by a factor of 10.
○ How much does this matter for viability of space industry? Rocket equation is mostly concerned with fuel weight, not rocket weight, right?
• Assembler technology will lead to a new age of whale-fall - post-scarcity for a while, until we start bumping into real physical limits
• Nanomachines seem like they can pretty much heal whatever, as long as the necessary information is available. Like if you need to fix a broken piece, or remove waste products that shouldn't be there, or otherwise restoring things to some default when you know what the default state should be. But unique neural patterns can't be restored once the information is lost, even given perfect atomic manipulation abilities
• Metastasis has focused on freezing (cryonics) because most human cells restart activity spontaneously upon freezing and thawing
• The prospects of nanotech are likely to remain fixed across plausible revolutions in physics. We have pretty solid empirical contact with the phenomena needed, and all the exotic stuff is quite unstable. Unless some new highly exotic behavior that's yet unexplored somehow produces stable particles
• Rifkin's arguments about entropy seem weird, but Drexler's counterexample using evaporation to separate salt and water in a closed system is also obviously invalid - if the sunlight enters, it's not a closed system, bud
• True redundancy (independent failures, different designs to account for design errors) leads to exponential growth in expected-time-to-failure: this makes it easy to put highly redundant safety mechanisms that will make failure wildly unlikely, but comes with increased weight, bulk, cost, etc.
• "dangerous replicators will be far simpler to design than systems that can thwart them, just as a bacterium is far simpler than an immune system"
• We can make replicators safe by preventing evolution via super-low mutation rate, or designing intentionally brittle mechanisms that will fail if mutated, or by designing a need for artificial "vitamins", etc.
• Drexler says that organisms are "evolved to evolve" - we are good at evolving because we descended from animals that evolve. That seems wack. How does me being "good at evolving" benefit any of my genes?
• Even if we can use these (hopefully relatively cheap) security mechanisms to make sure the first round of replicators don't go wrong, it'll still be hard to prevent misuse (or even accident) risks from cropping up eventually. We have to learn to defend against rampant nanotech, but can do so from the position of having an established order working against some small destructive power, not the other way around
• Static shields won't work to contain nanobots, but active shields can
• Proposes that in arms race dynamics, sides can work together to develop systems that defend both sides, but threaten neither. Example: neutral territory, general-purpose anti-missile defenses. Relaxes arms race on both sides
○ Uhhh, no? This worsens the arms race, because whoever figures out how to bypass the system first gets a safe first strike
• Technology is hard to govern fairly, since it requires significant investment to understand. Drexler proposes a sort of fact forum procedure for improving technological governance - basically, his stab at producing the idealized "marketplace of idea" (or evolution arena or something, as he would probably call it)
• Thought that hypertext would be a good forum for discussing ideas. Internet forums might be better than whatever the situation was before, but they're still quite bad
January 29, 2009
I read this volume 20 years ago. I am still haunted by all its implications. Nanotechnology was still largely theoretical when I first read the book and I was somewhat incredulous over some of the caveats proferred by Dr. Drexler. The author gives us an amazing overview of the possibilities in nanotech: Imagine "growing a jet engine from a brew of tiny robots in solution. As you watch, the brew quickly morphs into a solid piece of complicated equipment. I was reminded of Arthur C Clarke's 3rd law of technology: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." But there are plenty of caveats as well. Drexler warns of us his "Grey Goo" hypothesis: That a nano robot designed to consume ALL organic matter it comes into contact with and create other identical bots in the process. Such a nightmare scenario would mean the end of all life on the planet in very short order. Scary shit! Even after 20 years, this book is a timely must-read for any engaged citizen.
March 4, 2009
Engines of Creations is a really exciting book about the possibility of a fantastic future. While nanotechnology is the main part of the book, Drexler talks about Artificial Intelligence (AI), colonisation of space, information management, and an extended almost immortal life. He doesn’t just talk about these things but predicts how these technologies will develop, how we will use them and the social implications.
The book can be very technical at times as the author begins by explaining how DNA is a nanomachine and how it encodes and produces every living thing. He uses this as a model for man to design DNA like machines and extends this to nanomachines not based on building proteins but building non-organic machines.
Large parts of the book talk about the steps that need to be taken in order to ensure that the technology is produced with appropriate safeguards in place (both physical and political).
The book was published in 1986 when html and the web was still being developed. Towards the end of the book there is a chapter on information. He discusses using html and how it will revolutionise the way we store/update documents. He basically explains the web as it is now.
The ideas in this book are used extensively in almost every modern sci-fi book or movie out there.
The book can be very technical at times as the author begins by explaining how DNA is a nanomachine and how it encodes and produces every living thing. He uses this as a model for man to design DNA like machines and extends this to nanomachines not based on building proteins but building non-organic machines.
Large parts of the book talk about the steps that need to be taken in order to ensure that the technology is produced with appropriate safeguards in place (both physical and political).
The book was published in 1986 when html and the web was still being developed. Towards the end of the book there is a chapter on information. He discusses using html and how it will revolutionise the way we store/update documents. He basically explains the web as it is now.
The ideas in this book are used extensively in almost every modern sci-fi book or movie out there.
October 20, 2018
This book lies somewhere between science fiction and non-fiction.
It is quite intriguing though, how nanotechnology, with its root in bio-tech, can ideally make what we've seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation become a reality. Drexler goes in to depth on explaining the great potential in nano tech, backing his predictions up with numerous pages of notes and references.
The part at the end with the text about Hyperspeech, was admittedly amusing given our age now with the internet, and I also shook my head at some of the phrases with the "leading force" but one has to remember that he wrote the book while the Soviet Union still existed.
All in all, after reading the book I looked up articles on Nanotechnology and was quite happy to see that is indeed a very serious research. Who knows, we might yet end up on our version of the "Enterprise" and explore new worlds.
It is quite intriguing though, how nanotechnology, with its root in bio-tech, can ideally make what we've seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation become a reality. Drexler goes in to depth on explaining the great potential in nano tech, backing his predictions up with numerous pages of notes and references.
The part at the end with the text about Hyperspeech, was admittedly amusing given our age now with the internet, and I also shook my head at some of the phrases with the "leading force" but one has to remember that he wrote the book while the Soviet Union still existed.
All in all, after reading the book I looked up articles on Nanotechnology and was quite happy to see that is indeed a very serious research. Who knows, we might yet end up on our version of the "Enterprise" and explore new worlds.
July 29, 2016
This is a delightfully ambitious and optimistic view, laying forth a vision of the future and casually brushing a side any existential (if not apocolyptic!) threats striving for the future may have. It is actually a very similar book to Ray Kurzweill's The Singularity is Near . Kurzweil just adds more ego and pictures (which are both lots of fun!) but the content and conclusions are near identical. Of the two I think I would suggest the Kurzweil, primarily because it was written more recently and therefore has a more up-to-date grasp of current technologies.
August 15, 2022
Lost access to my old account, hence the copy paste review.
This book lies somewhere between science fiction and non-fiction.
It is quite intriguing though, how nanotechnology, with its root in bio-tech, can ideally make what we've seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation become a reality. Drexler goes in to depth on explaining the great potential in nano tech, backing his predictions up with numerous pages of notes and references.
The part at the end with the text about Hyperspeech, was admittedly amusing given our age now with the internet, and I also shook my head at some of the phrases with the "leading force" but one has to remember that he wrote the book while the Soviet Union still existed.
All in all, after reading the book I looked up articles on Nanotechnology and was quite happy to see that is indeed a very serious research. Who knows, we might yet end up on our version of the "Enterprise" and explore new worlds.
This book lies somewhere between science fiction and non-fiction.
It is quite intriguing though, how nanotechnology, with its root in bio-tech, can ideally make what we've seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation become a reality. Drexler goes in to depth on explaining the great potential in nano tech, backing his predictions up with numerous pages of notes and references.
The part at the end with the text about Hyperspeech, was admittedly amusing given our age now with the internet, and I also shook my head at some of the phrases with the "leading force" but one has to remember that he wrote the book while the Soviet Union still existed.
All in all, after reading the book I looked up articles on Nanotechnology and was quite happy to see that is indeed a very serious research. Who knows, we might yet end up on our version of the "Enterprise" and explore new worlds.
February 22, 2022
I read this book and afterwards believed technologies like quantum dot would change energy production. It never happened. I watched as black light introduced its 10 megawatt plasma pulse generator the size of a box and realized the device would never breach the 1 gigawatt power generator because nuclear energy was sponsored by government . I wondered about power generators the size of your hand providing electricity to four billion at the bottom and saw nothing but expensive solar. Where is the engine of creation in mainline consumerism ? Nano materials and graphene cpus. Nope. Nano materials in industry and manufacturing. Where is the cheap carbon fiber car? It doesn’t exist
May 16, 2023
Interesting, but kinda sad.
1) The Ubertech X is possible. Here's how:...
2) But also dangerous. Like this: ...
3) But can be made safe by this "active shields" thing and copious amounts of coordination.
It goes like this for the nanotech, space, AI, hypertext.
The hypertext part is especially sad now, given that it basically implemented, but got corrupted somewhere on the way there.
And the really scary part, that the other pieces can, and perhaps would, be corrupted likewise.
On one hand the book is a portable hopium generator, on the other, it lacks security mindset so glaringly that there's nightmare fuel lurking between the lines everywhere.
1) The Ubertech X is possible. Here's how:...
2) But also dangerous. Like this: ...
3) But can be made safe by this "active shields" thing and copious amounts of coordination.
It goes like this for the nanotech, space, AI, hypertext.
The hypertext part is especially sad now, given that it basically implemented, but got corrupted somewhere on the way there.
And the really scary part, that the other pieces can, and perhaps would, be corrupted likewise.
On one hand the book is a portable hopium generator, on the other, it lacks security mindset so glaringly that there's nightmare fuel lurking between the lines everywhere.
February 5, 2024
Incredible book, very, very, very ahead of its time, incredibly well written, in a content prose going technical but easy to follow. The author has thought about all the aspects of the case for nanotechnology and its impacts, fearful and brilliant.
The book describes several biological machines, and nonbiological machines, referred to as replicants, and their possible functions and areas where they can benefit or enhance us. The book is not gigantic and may be read in a week or so, well worth to read it.
The book describes several biological machines, and nonbiological machines, referred to as replicants, and their possible functions and areas where they can benefit or enhance us. The book is not gigantic and may be read in a week or so, well worth to read it.
July 26, 2018
Hard to believe that this book is so old, but the predictions are dead on in terms of AI, nanotech, and the internet. I don't agree that assemblers will be something that can be caged and regulated as the author claims.
Technology has changed since this book was written, but the concepts of how his technology will impact our society are timeless.
Technology has changed since this book was written, but the concepts of how his technology will impact our society are timeless.
October 7, 2018
I was wild about this book when I read it, but my current understanding is that it has been demonstrated to be false, the technology the book predicts violates quantum mechanics, or so I have read. That said, the three star rating is some kind of average between my original and current thoughts about the book.
January 30, 2018
While most of changes he predicted still aren't even close(suggesting one could really guess when revolution's around the corner), most of topics provide and interesting take on what nanobots can accomplish.
September 26, 2017
The chapter of hypertext seems too optimistic by nowadays, but nanotechnology is exciting anyway.
July 13, 2018
It was amazing book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2018
A very hopeful book. Reminded me of the 1960's when we expected technology would solve all future woes. Luckily, he threw in that prediction about ... (I won't spoil it for you)
December 31, 2018
I want a book like this for every subject I am interested in.
September 8, 2020
Ничего особо нового я не узнал. Всё это о технологиях и будущем видел в роликах на Ютубе или прочитал в Физике будущего.
November 17, 2020
Science
December 17, 2020
Read it as an ebook
July 17, 2021
Very interesting, if taken with a grain of salt.
February 18, 2023
I imagine this would be nuts if someone hasn't engaged with a bunch of sci fi / science. It was a cute review of what's possible given advanced nanotech.
March 3, 2017
Very thorough, some progressive content considering when it was written and fairly accessible for someone who is not at all from a technical background
March 23, 2016
Despite K. Eric Drexler writing this book all the way back in the mid 1980's, his work is still futurism's magnum opus. Somehow, the author very cleverly captured the essence of distant technology and made it feel so attainable and rational. His writing seeps with optimism, which can undermine credibility, but in this instance, that optimism has a wonderful charm.
Reading a book like this in 2016 is extra fascinating because it was written almost 30 years ago and made some bold predictions about the future we live in now. I think Mr. Drexler was extraordinarily prescient on many things and overly optimistic, if not naive, about others. Today, he would likely be very impressed by our technological capabilities with our powerful micro chips and global internet, but also maybe slightly underwhelmed by our progress in biotechnology and genetics. We're far more advanced but not institutionally.
My favorite part of the book was the section on hypertext. Reading that passage 30 years later in a world of ubiquitous and pervasive internet connectivity, was a real testament to our progress. His predictions about 'hypertext', the internet, seemed so quaint. Unfortunately, in his portrait of hypertext perfection he didn't predict internet trolling, toxic comments sections, and expansive amounts of useless content. Everything he predicted about the internet ended up coming to fruition but his predictions didn't go far enough. Today's internet is far larger, far more dynamic, far more connected, than he imagined.
If Drexler's predictions about the internet are a guide then our nanomolecular future will be bright. His premise is that nature has proven the feasibility of molecular machines, humans have proven the feasibility of constructing very small machines. So our natural technological progression would point to a future of synthetic molecular machines and replicators that transform humanity. It's as fasninating as it sounds and the author paints the most vivid and exciting picture of humanity's future.
The book spends a lot of time discussing the risks of the nanotechnology revolution along with motigation strategies. I find this area much less interesting outside of specific technical solutions like Active Shields. Predicting the future of technology can be fun and almost whimsical. Predicting future behavior of a bureaucracy is much less interesting. We don't know what future governments will look like or the ethos of their constituents. Predicting global order and dynamics along with governmental cooperation and alliances is much more pernicious than predicting technical or scientific advances.
I say as a devout futurist that this book is one of the best. In our time we are on the precipus of powerful technical AI and people like the author and books like these are why we're here. The future holds great promise and we need individuals like Mr. Drexler to tell the story and help guide the advance.
Reading a book like this in 2016 is extra fascinating because it was written almost 30 years ago and made some bold predictions about the future we live in now. I think Mr. Drexler was extraordinarily prescient on many things and overly optimistic, if not naive, about others. Today, he would likely be very impressed by our technological capabilities with our powerful micro chips and global internet, but also maybe slightly underwhelmed by our progress in biotechnology and genetics. We're far more advanced but not institutionally.
My favorite part of the book was the section on hypertext. Reading that passage 30 years later in a world of ubiquitous and pervasive internet connectivity, was a real testament to our progress. His predictions about 'hypertext', the internet, seemed so quaint. Unfortunately, in his portrait of hypertext perfection he didn't predict internet trolling, toxic comments sections, and expansive amounts of useless content. Everything he predicted about the internet ended up coming to fruition but his predictions didn't go far enough. Today's internet is far larger, far more dynamic, far more connected, than he imagined.
If Drexler's predictions about the internet are a guide then our nanomolecular future will be bright. His premise is that nature has proven the feasibility of molecular machines, humans have proven the feasibility of constructing very small machines. So our natural technological progression would point to a future of synthetic molecular machines and replicators that transform humanity. It's as fasninating as it sounds and the author paints the most vivid and exciting picture of humanity's future.
The book spends a lot of time discussing the risks of the nanotechnology revolution along with motigation strategies. I find this area much less interesting outside of specific technical solutions like Active Shields. Predicting the future of technology can be fun and almost whimsical. Predicting future behavior of a bureaucracy is much less interesting. We don't know what future governments will look like or the ethos of their constituents. Predicting global order and dynamics along with governmental cooperation and alliances is much more pernicious than predicting technical or scientific advances.
I say as a devout futurist that this book is one of the best. In our time we are on the precipus of powerful technical AI and people like the author and books like these are why we're here. The future holds great promise and we need individuals like Mr. Drexler to tell the story and help guide the advance.
November 25, 2016
I require an exclamation. Give me a second...
Jesus? Nope, too many connotations. Gods? Bah, presumptuous. Stars above? Getting there. Moral saints? Too mundane. ...Screw it, I'm making a new one: Creation.
As Drexler points out at the end of this book, his aim is not to promote nanotechnology, but to "promote understanding of nanotechnology and its consequences". This was relayed exceptionally well, to me at least (other readers seem to have misunderstood), as he analyses, elaborates upon, and ultimately offers in considerable detail the potentials of this forthcoming technology. The concept needs no promoting to me; I am - as the metaphor goes - a member of the choir, but the details of what it might or might not entail, and in such detail as given here, is a gemstone in this personal research venture of mine.
That said, this is a specialised book, covering a particular subject. Ergo, unless you - like me - have an interest in nanotechnology beyond such infamous fictional instances as Steven Armstrong's "Nanomachines, son.", I would hesitate to recommend this book to you. It is insightful, and educational in a manner most textbooks can only dream of, but unless you are already engaged on this particular path, I would sooner ask you to walk a gravel footpath (though I may throw you some shoes if I like you).
There is no fiction here, no plot, no pacing, no characterisation; none of the lovely things I would either praise or lambaste in most books. There is only sound speculation, written by someone who knows exactly what he is talking about. As a first-timer to nonfiction reads, I find this book cold, but this must be taken with what I have already said, and besides, I like the cold.
I consider myself fortunate to have read this book, and will no doubt keep it on-hand for a long time to come. Speculation from the realworld has never before inspired me so.
Jesus? Nope, too many connotations. Gods? Bah, presumptuous. Stars above? Getting there. Moral saints? Too mundane. ...Screw it, I'm making a new one: Creation.
As Drexler points out at the end of this book, his aim is not to promote nanotechnology, but to "promote understanding of nanotechnology and its consequences". This was relayed exceptionally well, to me at least (other readers seem to have misunderstood), as he analyses, elaborates upon, and ultimately offers in considerable detail the potentials of this forthcoming technology. The concept needs no promoting to me; I am - as the metaphor goes - a member of the choir, but the details of what it might or might not entail, and in such detail as given here, is a gemstone in this personal research venture of mine.
That said, this is a specialised book, covering a particular subject. Ergo, unless you - like me - have an interest in nanotechnology beyond such infamous fictional instances as Steven Armstrong's "Nanomachines, son.", I would hesitate to recommend this book to you. It is insightful, and educational in a manner most textbooks can only dream of, but unless you are already engaged on this particular path, I would sooner ask you to walk a gravel footpath (though I may throw you some shoes if I like you).
There is no fiction here, no plot, no pacing, no characterisation; none of the lovely things I would either praise or lambaste in most books. There is only sound speculation, written by someone who knows exactly what he is talking about. As a first-timer to nonfiction reads, I find this book cold, but this must be taken with what I have already said, and besides, I like the cold.
I consider myself fortunate to have read this book, and will no doubt keep it on-hand for a long time to come. Speculation from the realworld has never before inspired me so.
January 2, 2013
This is the masterpiece of physics ideas that:
1) Brought the idea of the Singularity into its modern context
2) Built on Richard Feynman's Essay "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"
3) Brought a top-level hierarchy view of the ultimate possibilities of miniaturization to top-hierarchy-level thinkers like Ray Kurzweil and Marving Minsky.
4) Showed that things can get a lot worse than Stalinism, Hitlerism, etc. Such tyranny could be eternal, and could be in your own mind, without even the ability to commit suicide to end it. This book explores the darkest ideas of radical "leading force technology."
5) Explored the idea that the assembler arm is an enabling technology, and built upon in the 2.0 update that introduces the author's modifications of his view that free-floating nanobots are unlikely to be the initial implementation of "nanotechnology" in the Drexlerian, proper sense
6) Coined the term "nanotechnology"
7) Coined the concept and term of "molecular manufacturing"
8) Explored the idea of "leading force" arms escalation into miniaturization
...And did a lot of other things too. It's required reading for serious thinkers. It should be considered required reading for libertarian philosophers. It's free online, but sending Eric Drexler a royalty commission is worthwhile, too.
This is one of the books that "started it all."
1) Brought the idea of the Singularity into its modern context
2) Built on Richard Feynman's Essay "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"
3) Brought a top-level hierarchy view of the ultimate possibilities of miniaturization to top-hierarchy-level thinkers like Ray Kurzweil and Marving Minsky.
4) Showed that things can get a lot worse than Stalinism, Hitlerism, etc. Such tyranny could be eternal, and could be in your own mind, without even the ability to commit suicide to end it. This book explores the darkest ideas of radical "leading force technology."
5) Explored the idea that the assembler arm is an enabling technology, and built upon in the 2.0 update that introduces the author's modifications of his view that free-floating nanobots are unlikely to be the initial implementation of "nanotechnology" in the Drexlerian, proper sense
6) Coined the term "nanotechnology"
7) Coined the concept and term of "molecular manufacturing"
8) Explored the idea of "leading force" arms escalation into miniaturization
...And did a lot of other things too. It's required reading for serious thinkers. It should be considered required reading for libertarian philosophers. It's free online, but sending Eric Drexler a royalty commission is worthwhile, too.
This is one of the books that "started it all."
December 19, 2012
An introduction to one of the most brilliant, creative and exciting ideas that mankind has ever had. Really. This book offers a non-technical description of the next technological revolution.
Feynman was the first to introduce the idea, but it was Drexler that really ran with it. Drexler is the recognized father of nanotechnology, and humanity doesn't yet realize how much they owe him. Drexler's PhD on nanotechnology (MIT, 1991) was the first ever awarded on the topic for the simple reason that nobody else had ever thought about it with such depth and clarity. Even today, the vast majority of the world's scientists and engineers are completely unaware of the magnitude of technological advancement that is available to us through development of ideas that Drexler presented more than 20 years ago.
What's more, Drexler recently made the 2nd edition of this book available for download for just $0.99, or free to anybody that would like to read it online. Link: http://www.wowio.com/users/product.as...
Feynman was the first to introduce the idea, but it was Drexler that really ran with it. Drexler is the recognized father of nanotechnology, and humanity doesn't yet realize how much they owe him. Drexler's PhD on nanotechnology (MIT, 1991) was the first ever awarded on the topic for the simple reason that nobody else had ever thought about it with such depth and clarity. Even today, the vast majority of the world's scientists and engineers are completely unaware of the magnitude of technological advancement that is available to us through development of ideas that Drexler presented more than 20 years ago.
What's more, Drexler recently made the 2nd edition of this book available for download for just $0.99, or free to anybody that would like to read it online. Link: http://www.wowio.com/users/product.as...
May 13, 2012
This is an epoch making book, no doubt, with a strong inspirational content.
“There's plenty of room at the bottom” said Richard Feynman in 1959. Almost 30 years later Eric Drexler wrote this book about molecular nanotechnology with a foreword by the AI scientist Marvin Minsky. The futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his 2005 book “The Singularity is Near”, strongly supported Drexler’s ideas. Two years later, in 2007, Drexler himself published “Engines of Creation 2.0”, as a free ebook.
How can the whole Library of Congress fit on a chip the size of a sugar cube? How can be made and used the so called “universal assemblers”, nano machines able to build objects atom by atom? What’s gray goo? Hypertext, life extension, space colonization, exponential growth are other topics of a book overflowing our mind with technological breakthroughs whose implications can now be imagined only up to a limited extent.
“There's plenty of room at the bottom” said Richard Feynman in 1959. Almost 30 years later Eric Drexler wrote this book about molecular nanotechnology with a foreword by the AI scientist Marvin Minsky. The futurist Ray Kurzweil, in his 2005 book “The Singularity is Near”, strongly supported Drexler’s ideas. Two years later, in 2007, Drexler himself published “Engines of Creation 2.0”, as a free ebook.
How can the whole Library of Congress fit on a chip the size of a sugar cube? How can be made and used the so called “universal assemblers”, nano machines able to build objects atom by atom? What’s gray goo? Hypertext, life extension, space colonization, exponential growth are other topics of a book overflowing our mind with technological breakthroughs whose implications can now be imagined only up to a limited extent.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews