Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change CivilizationK. Eric Drexler is the founding father of nanotechnology -- the science of engineering on a molecular level. In Radical Abundance, he shows how rapid scientific progress is about to change our world. Thanks to atomically precise manufacturing, 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. A provocative tour of cutting edge science and its implications by the field's founder and master, Radical Abundance offers a mind-expanding vision of a world hurtling toward an unexpected future. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 9 | |
From Molecules to Nanosystems | 22 |
Three Revolutions and a Fourth | 39 |
The Look and Feel of the Nanoscale World | 55 |
The Ways We Make Things | 72 |
Science and the Timeless Landscape | 89 |
The Clashing Concerns of Engineering | 107 |
Todays Technologies of Atomic Precision | 177 |
A Funny Thing Happened on | 194 |
How to Accelerate Progress | 213 |
Transforming the Material Basis | 223 |
Managing a Catastrophic Success | 240 |
Security for an Unconventional Future | 259 |
Changing Our Conversation About | 273 |
The MolecularLevel Physical Principles | 289 |
Other editions - View all
Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization K. Eric Drexler No preview available - 2013 |
Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization K. Eric Drexler No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
agriculture AP fabrication APM systems APM-based production APM-level technologies applied assembly atomically precise fabrication atomically precise manufacturing biomolecular bonds building blocks capabilities carbon cells challenges Chapter chemical chemical synthesis chemistry chemists complex components computational concept constraints contrast cost DNA nanotechnology electronic enable energy Engines of Creation example exploratory engineering explore factory field foldamers functional future global human industrial Information Revolution kind knowledge lead limits look machinery machines materials mechanical methods microblocks million molecular sciences molecules monomers Moore’s Law nanomachines nanometers nanoscale nanoscale world nanotechnology National Nanotechnology Initiative nature nologies paths peptoids performance physical law potential predictable problems progress prospects protein engineering quantum questions radical abundance range reactions reliable Richard Feynman Roadmap scientific scientists self-assembly shape silicon space step stereotactic control structures surface synthesis system-level tech there’s tion today’s understanding vision