IBM have been fiddling about with nanoscale images for years, from spelling out the letters IBM in Xenon atoms to the latest nanoscale world map. I once asked the late Hans Coufal, head of nanotechnology at IBM’s Almadan research centre whether it was science or marketing, and he indicted the latter. Ever since then, making nanoscale sculptures has been a …
Pot, Kettle, Black?
Chief nanobottite Chris Phoenix of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology and now the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies is back from holiday and he’s on the warpath. As if those infernal scientists hijacking the term nanotechnology, grabbing all the funding and then chuckling into their sparkling new labware about the viability of Drexlerian nanobots wasn’t enough, someone now has …
Father 2.0 Recontructed Using Nanobots?
Is this nanobot week? Ray Kurzweil appears to be planning to use nanobots to bring his dead (since 1970) father to life according to this extract from a recent Rolling Stone interview reproduced at RoughType…. Using technology, he plans to bring his dead father back to life. Kurzweil reveals this to me near the end of our conversation … In …
Nanofactories: The Scientific Equivalent Of Defecating In a Swimming Pool?
Given the recent discussions of the effect of the Singlarity University, and the difficulty of discussing nanotechnology without getting sidetracked by discussions about life extension, nanofactories and human extension, someone recently commented that these ideas have ‘polluted the well (of nanoscience).’ The problem is that the propagation of these rather odd ideas is continuous, just when you think the last …
Invasion of the Chinese Nanobots
One of our old nanotech favourites, rabid sinophobe Lev Nazorov returns this week with a classic illustration of what happens when you read a bit of Drexler and let your imagination run wild. Nazorov is rather obsessed with the Chinese threat to the US and contends that “China’s ultimate plan would involve the use of “molecular nano assemblers,” which are …