Nanotechnology...

DSP · (#1 (**permalink**))

.....has always made me feel uneasy. The thought of large numbers of microscopic robots built into everything from clothes to liquids sounds sinister.

Agu Bu Oji · (#2 (**permalink**))

Cells, if you can get them working together to change form whilst still retaining their strength....

milesdavis · (#3 (**permalink**))

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSP

.....has always made me feel uneasy. The thought of large numbers of microscopic robots built into everything from clothes to liquids sounds sinister.

Thought this is the sort of thread where SOOFRESH would have dropped some serious knowledge...but looks like she is bussy or something

It seems so odd to me that we would be pursuing our own nanotech when it's already all around us. Every cell, every baterium is a nanotech factory with a few billion years of sophistication already developed. It's as if we prefer to develop kludgy contraptions of our own rather than to reverse engineer someone else's finely tuned instruments. It does make sense to develop some nanotech, like ever smaller electronic circuits. But others, like atomic pumps, don't make any sense at all. Nature has already designed several that are far more efficient than anything we can produce.

I remember few yrs ago they had this GENOME PROJECT , and everyone out there was so enthusiastic about it but i had a feeling that it was just a rough draft. It was kinda rushed to print. But what happened there is quite an extraordinary celebration of the human will. We were able to complete it by developing technology that catalogued the genes enmasse instead of one at a time. So most of the human genome project was actually done in but 4 years. I hope that all subsequent projects have the same barrier smashing results as the human genome project did.

Also lets not forget that we're still finding out new things about our genome all the time. For instance, we're finding that many of our genetic diseases and cancers result from chromosomal damage rather than genetic damage or 'flaws'. This is an amazing discovery since we are capable of manipulationg chromosomes far easier than genes. It should make the search for cures much easier.

Scientists have now started a whole new study called proteinomics. It's the study of the proteins that these genes create. The genes and chromosomes are just chapter 1 in the book of life. Understanding proteins and their relationship to genes will be chapter 2. Then comes understanding their relationships to each other. And by understanding proteinomics and how they manifest themselves as traits on the macro level, we will be able to predict all possible variations of any species quite easily.

We have a very long road ahead of us. The good news is, we're definitely on our way.

umbrarchist · (#4 (**permalink**))

How much talk of nanotechnology is gigahype?

The CPU in your computer generates so much heat that the heatsink and fan is bigger than all of the chips and memory on the motherboard. Probably 25% of the power from your power supply goes to producing that heat.

Where are these nanobots going to get their power? Where is that heat going to go?

I remember when they were talking about the paperless office. The computers have gotten better since then but I don't hear paperless office anymore.

Some of the people producing the hype don't even know when the hype is gigabullsh!t.

umbra

Agu Bu Oji · (#5 (**permalink**))

Should use their own heat as a powersource, makes sence.