21st Century NanoTechnologies
Single-walled carbon nanotubes

Baytubes
“As a market- and customer-oriented inventor company, Bayer MaterialScience is working closely with Bayer Technology Services to promote the development of this exciting future technology (nanotubes).”

ZettaCore
“… developing ultra-dense, low-power, lower-cost memory chips that have the potential to revolutionize the microelectronics industry.”

All nanotech manufacturers are making things smaller, lighter, stronger, more durable, more energy efficient, easier to clean, easier to transport – in all – nanotech manufacturers are adding great improvements in the utility of conventionally manufactured items. This website, Nanotech Manufacturers, provides much insight into this very important technology via great nanotechnology resources, such as nanotech manufacturer videos, nanotechnology manufacturing articles, and conversation about fears, hopes, and promises of nanotechnology in general.

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If we consider the long history of modern humans and their adoption of technologies and then consider the most recent hyper-advances in technology in the present period in BioTech, Computer Sciences and NanoTech, it would be silly for anyone to assume that we would not have an implanted device in humans at the time they got a Social Security Card. You see 2025 is not that far away in terms of the human endeavor.

We must realize that many human societies and civilizations maybe forced to have these devices inside their bodies and grow up with them and have no choice and thus learn to trust them within, this will occur long before 2025. The individual will of the American ideal may provide itself to be a longer hold out in the adoption of subdermal, under skull, brain and body chip implants.

As far as the technology itself; it will get smaller, more robust and better able to detect brain waves, human intent and even eventually transfer thought all the size of something less than a dime in total. These chips will have such things as add on memory, PhD in many subjects in an all-in-one chip. If you consider such concepts and take them out 100 plus years we may see that we start to lose our ability to speak. So in the far future we may not even need vocal cords and they will evolve out of the species. You see, currently humans are losing their sense of taste and smell. By 2012 or 2015 this technology will be available and humans may chose to adopt it and some may wish to have an implant brain chip.

By 2035 all those other add-ons of the chip, including brain learning while sleeping will also be available as well. Sounds like it could be a very nice SciFi novel indeed for now, but soon it will be a reality and a concept you do not even have to think about because it will already be along side of your brain thinking with you? Think on this in 2006.

According to the bible, in the last days, a unified global government will rule the world. The head of this global government, the Antichrist, is one of the more infamous figures in human history, and not a single individual on the face of the earth will lie outside of his jurisdiction:

“And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.” Revelation 13:7 (NLT)

This global government will emerge in our generation because current technological trends will soon make it inevitable. The catalyst for this consolidation of global political power will be the development of molecular manufacturing (MM), a revolutionary technology of unprecedented capability and strength. It’s a technology that could arrive as soon as tomorrow and almost certainly will arrive within the next decade.

Molecular Manufacturing and Geopolitical Instability

International relations since World War II have largely been shaped by the existence of nuclear weapons. Likewise, the era to come will largely be shaped by the existence of molecular manufacturing. The development of MM will have a much more significant impact than the development of atomic weapons, and the stakes will be much higher. This is because world domination could easily be achieved with the creation of molecular manufacturing.

MM is the ability to manufacture products from the bottom up, one molecule at a time, with atomic precision. The development of MM will lead to the creation of the personal nanofactory, a desktop appliance capable of creating everyday products from basic feedstock (molecules). The consequences of such a technology are so profound, they are probably beyond the ability of a single individual to comprehend.

Since a nanofactory is capable of self-replication, the first could manufacture a duplicate copy of itself. Those two then become four, become eight, and so on. As a result, this compounding capital base could create a massive and decisive military force within days. As Dr. K. Eric Drexler described in his book, Engines of Creation, “a state that makes the assembler breakthrough could rapidly create a decisive military force – if not literally overnight, then at least with unprecedented speed.”

The Circumvention of MAD

Since the Soviet Union emerged as the world’s second nuclear power in 1949, international stability has been built on the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The prospect of MAD has successfully prevented the eruption of World War III by making a potential military conflict between nuclear powers equally undesirable to each party involved. This has led many to believe that victory in such a conflict is unattainable. With current technology, this assumption is probably correct. However, once molecular manufacturing emerges, this will no longer be true. A MM-enabled power could easily circumvent MAD.

A nation in possession of nanofactories is capable of rapidly manufacturing and deploying billions of microscopic/macroscopic machines at relatively little cost. These machines could comb the oceans for enemy submarines and quickly disable the nuclear arsenals they carry. Similar acts of sabotage could be carried out simultaneously against land-based nuclear facilities and conventional military forces in a matter of hours, if not minutes. Rendering its enemies utterly defenseless, the MM-enabled nation could conquer at will without fear of nuclear retaliation.

The Race Toward Molecular Manufacturing

The development of molecular manufacturing opens the door for its initial user to completely dominate world affairs. A nation equipped with contemporary technology attempting to defend itself against a MM-enabled nation is akin to a small band of cavemen armed with rocks and spears attempting to overpower a modern day army.Given the stakes involved, it’s reasonable to believe multiple nations are currently in pursuit of a molecular manufacturing capability – just as Germany, Japan, and the United States covertly and simultaneously pursued the creation of an atomic bomb.

If Germany had been the first to succeed in the development of atomic weaponry, it’s almost certain that Hitler would’ve used this advantage to drive the Allied Forces from the European Continent, perhaps totally defeating the United States in the process. In contrast, the United States, as the world’s first nuclear power, could’ve used its position to prevent rival nations from acquiring the same capability. In fact, the United States could’ve used its position to create an impregnable world empire.

In similar fashion, the leading MM-enabled nation can create its own empire if it uses its initial advantage to prevent competing nation states from developing a molecular manufacturing capability of their own. However, in all probability, this is not just one of several options, but the only option. Unlike, the nuclear era, the prospect of MM proliferation is simply intolerable.

This is because of the inherent instability of an arms race between competing MM-enabled nation states. This nightmarish prospect is identified by The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology as one of the foremost dangers posed by molecular manufacturing:

“The nuclear arms race was stable for several reasons. In virtually every way, the nano-arms race will be the opposite. Nuclear weapons are hard to design, hard to build, require easily monitored testing, do indiscriminate and lasting damage, do not rapidly become obsolete, have almost no peaceful use, and are universally abhorred. Nano capability will be easy to build (given a nanofactory), will allow easily concealable testing, will be relatively easy to control and deactivate, would become obsolete very rapidly, almost every design is dual-use, and peaceful and non-lethal (police) use will be common. Nukes are easier to stockpile than to use; nano weapons are the opposite.”

CRN also agrees that a molecular manufacturing monopoly will be an attractive policy option for the nation that first develops molecular manufacturing:

“Each nation will see only a few possibilities: 1) an arms race that will probably be unwinnable since it will develop into a disastrous war; 2) developing ahead of everyone else and establishing dominance; 3) some other nation developing earlier and establishing dominance; 4) international cooperation and trust sufficient to ensure safety; 5) a multinational organization willing and able to keep the peace.”

“Option 1 is undesirable; Option 3 is probably unthinkable for any of the current large powers; Option 5 is probably unacceptable to the U.S., as the world’s sole superpower; Option 4 may be seen as unfeasible. Only one nation can succeed at Option 2. This implies that a preemptive strike option (whether military attack, or sabotage or derailment of nanotech development efforts) will appear very attractive to a number of powerful nations.”

If Option 4 were feasible, then we would have world peace now. Option 5 is only feasible if the multinational organization in question is given sufficient authority and military power to disarm and regulate the nations of the world. By definition, this would be a global government.

So, essentially, once molecular manufacturing is developed, the developing nation has two options:

1) Conquer competing nations so as to prevent them from constructing a rival MM capability.

2) Given the available options, it should come as no surprise that world domination will win out.

The Inevitability of Global Government

Once the leading MM-enabled power uses its advantage to destroy the potential molecular manufacturing capability of suspected rivals, it will then face a much tougher decision: how to go about governing the world. The leading nation will need to institute some form of a global regulatory body to insure that molecular manufacturing does not fall into the wrong hands. Only two choices seem viable:

1) Federalism – a centralized governing authority that oversees the entire world population.

2) Confederation – a loosely associated collection of states who work together to administer world government.

Option 2 would still require a leading authority to maintain a monopoly on molecular manufacturing and extinguish any attempts to create a rival power – whether that power be a nation, a group, or an individual. As a result, both options inevitably lead to a centralized global government – a global government that must maintain constant vigilance toward the possible threat of an emerging power. This constant vigilance will require continuous global surveillance.

A Surveillance Society

Imagine a scenario in which a single individual in possession of unrestricted technology and resources could conquer the entire world. This will be our world in the era of molecular manufacturing. With such high stakes and an almost infinite number of potential threats, the world population will require some means of defense. And that defense will require around-the-clock, ever-present surveillance of the world at large.

A system of safeguards will have to be constructed in order to prevent emerging nation states, terrorist groups, and individuals from breaching the peace. A single global government will go a long way toward eliminating military conflict, as there will be only one military power with a unified purpose. However, in the era of molecular manufacturing, competing militaries could rise quickly, and to prevent a loss of its governing monopoly, a global government will have to deploy unprecedented measures.

This surveillance could be “god-like” in scope – seeing everything, hearing everything, and knowing everything. Imagine “nanodust” – nanoscale cameras and listening devices as plentiful and as difficult to remove as common, everyday dust. MM will enable the construction of trillions of these sophisticated devices at negligible cost.

Outfitted with advanced artificial intelligence software, these devices could sift through continuous video and audio feeds, searching for predetermined patterns indicative of what the state believes to be “aberrant” behavior. This isn’t difficult to imagine. Similar pattern recognition technologies are already in widespread use. MM can simply extend these applications to encompass all speech and actions on the face of the earth.

With the need for constant vigilance against any potential emerging MM powers, global surveillance will have to be administered on some sort global level, meaning that a final global authority for resolving and enforcing international disputes must emerge. This is why global government is inevitable.

Why All This Is Relevant

Okay, so global government is imminent and inevitable. What’s the big deal, you ask? The reason this is such a big deal is revealed in the bible. Centuries ago, the bible predicted that a global government would arise in the last days, just prior to . And this global government will only appear on the world scene in parallel with the Antichrist, so we can’t speculate that it will exist for an undetermined time period before he appears:

“His ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power; they will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast. They will all agree to give their power and authority to him.” Revelation 17:12-13 (NLT)

Global government comes about as a direct result of ten kings freely providing their power and authority to a centralized global government. The establishment of this global government, and the rise of the Antichrist to administer it, is a monumental sign which heralds the soon return of Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom on Earth.

The apostle Paul cited the appearance of the Antichrist as a necessary precondition for the “day of the Lord”:

“Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us. Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed – the one who brings destruction.” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 (NLT)

Conclusion

Although the “day of the Lord” (i.e., the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ) will not occur until the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) is revealed, the same is not true for the rapture of the church, an imminent event which can occur at any moment. The short timeframe for the development of molecular manufacturing and the inevitable global government that will follow it reveal that the “day of the Lord” is close at hand.

Since the bible reveals that the rapture of the church will occur at least seven years before the glorious appearing, we can be certain that the rapture is even closer. In fact, just like molecular manufacturing, the rapture is imminent. Therefore, as good servants of Jesus Christ, we should be ever watchful, faithfully tending to our duties here on earth. For our Lord will return at a moment when He’s least expected, and that moment will occur in our generation.

May He find us abundant with joy and overflowing with the Holy Spirit when He returns.

There are many environmental type groups and OSHA watchdog groups calling for the complete banning of Nano Technologies and yet these new technologies could change everything and completely revolutionize nearly every industry. Even the FDA is being attacked for being slow to develop rules and regulations concerning NanoTech.

The EPA is concerned and already has several committees on the subject to protect water supplies, the air we breath and make sure nothing escapes from the manufacturing process or laboratories. Of course Michael Crieghton’s “Prey” did not help anyone’s emotional fears in the matter. The story of course being about a NanoTech project in the middle of the Nevada Desert going totally wrong.

Yes some regulations might be needed but it is hard to say to what extent, as that will not be known for some time. The real problem of course is the fact that if we over-regulate now then many start-ups will not be able to make the breakthroughs needed to make the industry worthy of investment and capital flows. Indeed, NanoTech will revolutionize medicine, make our Space Program five times as efficient and save Americans fuel by lightening our automobiles.

In fact NanoTech will provide better strength in materials and light weight to improve aircraft performance, trucks, trains, ships, spacecraft, as well as help with better building materials and unique high-tech features for schools, home entertainment systems, transparent ceiling to watch the stars all at a flick of a switch. NanoTech, will make everything better, more efficient and stronger too. So, why impede the future at a time when we need solutions? Consider this in 2006.

In the future we will need procedures and specialized protocol to deal with nano contaminants. As mankind learns more about the science of NanoTech and creates micron sized materials, which are so small you cannot see we will need to address the issues of cleaning up contaminants at a nano molecular level. Easier said than done, nevertheless abatement checks and specialized sensors will need to be developed as this new Nano Tech research and development gets underway.

Consider if you will be possibility of Nano Tech manufacturing at the molecular level, which might be so small it could escape the building in which the manufacturing is being done and once out of the building and into the environment it would continue to build and this would be the starting of a Nano Tech eco disaster. Obviously I am pro technology but at the same time do not read these words of caution as a doom and gloom prophesy, as my goal is not to scare people but rather to make us think and it is up to us as we explore innovation into the next century that we also pay attention to what we’re doing.

As humans become their own God and play God with micron sized nano technologies, then we’d better pay attention to what we’re doing and we owe it to ourselves and our children to do the right thing. I therefore propose abatement checks and specialized sensors to be funded along with the Nano Technology of tomorrow to ensure a safe passage into future periods in the forward progression of mankind. Consider this in 2006.

There was a nanotechnology conference in 1998. I realise what some may be saying to this. Either, ‘What nanotechnology conference in 1998?’, or ‘What is nanotechnology?’, or even ‘So what – that was ten years ago!’ At least at the time of writing this… Well, whatever – there was such a conference in 1998 and I decided to mention it as there was a similar conference much more recent to this one in June 2003 held between members of the European Council – and so I ’smelt a rat’ because frankly, I am certain that the general public at large did not know about either fixture. Back to 1998. The specific or actual title for this event was, ‘Second International conference on Integrated Micro-Nano Technology for Space Applications 1998′.

The FIRST conference was apparently in 1995! Intrigued? Surprised? I certainly was. Nothing was said on U.K television at least… One may ask, ‘why write about this’? Well, this recent area of technology is of considerable importance, or at least it soon will be (especially in light of the more recent EC conference on nanotech’), due to the very ‘nature’ of the subject itself and what it will mean not too far from now. Though as it is already 2008, some of what follows may already be in prototype stage.

This is probable fact, it is not scare scaremongering. But, what is Nanotechnology and Micro-technology (?), irrespective of these or any such conferences. Each in turn, for the two disciplines, though very closely related, are not exactly the same thing – or one and the same, at least in terms of size. Nanotechnology is concerned with the concept of ’smart’ materials and even semi-autonomous machines or devices, ranging in size from something like an ANT, to near molecular dimensions – small enough to go into a hairline crack in a skirting-board, or to be injected into a living host respectively. Micro-technology however, is concerned with ‘things’ ranging in size from that of an ant to that of a small caterpillar or millipede. The ‘infrastructure’ for nanotechnology and micro-technology is already fairly established – and one of the very first (if not the first) ‘micro-nano bots’ was seen going across our television screens for a few brief seconds, circa 1987-88 (I forget the exact year, but remember seeing it in the late 1980’s). This particular ‘thing’ strongly resembled, and was about the same size as one of those very small hair-clips, only on four tiny ‘legs’. Some sort of ’synthesis’ between a very small microprocessor and the memory-metal that it was made of, enabled it to move of its’ own accord. But that was the late 80’s – and this is 2003! The ’speed’ at which micro/nano-technology has developed over the last decade or more since then, is on par with the development of the microprocessor itself during the decade or so before that.

Practical experiments/prototypes have included ‘devices’ that can be placed within the smallest areas or confines, such as minute cavities in walls, or cracks in pipelines or cable-ducts (for micro-technology) – and for nanotechnology, ‘devices’ small enough to be implanted into a living organism – the human body for instance. The implications of this will be considerable – it is their small/minute size that makes them powerful. Imagine an army of ‘titanium-steel silverfish’, or a synthetic ‘germ colony’ that could be controlled at will; either directly through a hand-held radio-control unit, or indirectly via a program stored on a ‘remote’ computer that ‘instructs’ the micro/nano-bots what to do (also by radio-control/telemetry).

These are currently (at the time of writing this) the limitations of nano and micro-technology. Because of the sizes involved, all-in-one ‘on board’ designs are not yet possible – and so they are not yet capable of fully autonomous operation. But this will undoubtedly change.

It won’t be long before we do have micro-controllers (essentially complete computers-on-a chip with memory and everything that have been around since the 1980’s; as opposed to ‘ordinary’ microprocessors/cpu-chips) small enough to fit onto devices of such size (the smallest one’s are in the area of 4.mm-square; although this would already fit into a micro-device the size of say a large caterpillar) – and subsequently micro-bots (if not perhaps nano-bots) that ARE fully autonomous and therefore independent of any host system.

This would mean that your synthetic germ-colony could instruct itself to lie dormant for any period of time and to then ‘awaken’ and perform whatever at a pre-programmed date… Various scientific institutions around the world have already created working micro-robot (and even some nano-robot) experiments, including devices that can crawl, burrow, go across or under water and even one’s that can fly! These developments in both micro and nano-technology have drawn great interest from both public and private concerns (government departments and private corporations). This includes the ’space race’ authorities that have been quick to realise (in theory at least) both the cost-saving benefits and operational benefits of such devices, especially in maintenance roles – hence the ‘First International Conference on Integrated Micro-Nano Technology for Space Applications’ in 1995 (!) – and subsequently the second one of 1998!! The home-page of the website that I visited quite by chance upon a visit to Hove library in 2001 was entitled, ‘NanoSpace 98 – to the planets and beyond…’ subtitled – ‘Call for papers.’ This is the truth! I know this sounds ‘unreal’, but there you have it.

The overall aim of this conference was to continue the revolution in the development of space technology or hardware through a combination of nano-electronics, nano-scale disciplines and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for, or as the ‘building-blocks’ of Application Specific Integrated Micro-instruments – or ASIM’s.

International experts in these fields were brought together to determine or ascertain how they could be best applied to space exploration – and to explore the various aspects (hardware, software, protocol, etc) for both unmanned and manned space missions/activities yet to come. The conference was organised by CNST – Centre for Nano Space Technologies, which is a division of the ‘Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (IAIR) based in Houston, Texas – and was sponsored by NASA (!) and SAIC – the Science Applications International Corporation. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, but this really, really is the truth).

This conference was a serious business. It was not a bogus or superficial event. Organisations like NASA and SAIC would never have put them selves forward to the level that they did if it was. The concept of ’smart machines’ that could ‘investigate’ anything, anywhere and operate like any ‘full sized’ machine, but at micro and even nano scales, was a proposition too good to miss. Because for nearly every form of full-sized robot/device, there is already a prototype equivalent at micro-technology proportions and probably will be at nano proportions relatively soon (again; micro-tech’ = ant size to small caterpillar size, nano-tech’ = near microscopic size to near molecular size).

For instance, a typical spot-welding robot in a car assembly plant is about five feet tall and six feet long at the armature and the same thing at micro-tech’ scale approximately one cubic centimetre (overall occupied space). It rotates, it pivots and it welds! The average submarine is forty-feet long and can enter a harbour or a large underground cave. There are micro-technology scale/sized submarines three centimetres long and one centimetre wide that can similarly navigate rock-pools and enter cavities in large boulders, or enter the gap between the outer and inner casings of an underwater pipeline to extract/extricate some small organism that has somehow burrowed through! In space exploration, the micro-welder could detect and repair mission-critical apparatus, whilst the ’submarine’ could be used to inspect liquid carrying conduits or pipelines, such as for hydraulic equipment.

Most of this is probably hypothetical however. It is not yet certain, even by the space research/exploration people that will use the technology, precisely which micro-scale (MEMS) devices/applications, will be used for what purposes. But what is known for certain, are the specific areas that were covered at great lengths during the conference itself (in 1998).

Main objectives were disciplines for reducing systems costs, adding new capabilities and improving reliability. To identify mission applications and ‘enabling technologies’ for long-term goals. To hold ‘workshops’ for the exchange of information/procedures pertinent to space applications of these/those technologies.

Papers were subsequently submitted (on invitation) by those that attended the conference (many eminent scientists and experts in the fields of micro-technology and or nano-technology) on the following areas:

1. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for space applications.
2. Low-power micro-scale devices.
3. Procedures for data processing.
4. Memory types to be deployed or used on devices.
5. Communications standards that would have to be deployed to enable micro-scale devices – and even some nano-scale, to ‘talk’ to remote or ’standard’ devices such as normal computers, but most importantly, to each other!
6. Applications Specific Integrated Micro-instruments (ASIM’s), of which the building blocks will be nano/micro-nano scale electronics and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS).
7. The adding-on of ASIM’s to assist or support existing space-systems capabilities.
‘Now this is the good one!’
8. Applications Specific Integrated Micro-instruments (ASIM’s) as the building blocks for micro-scale SPACECRAFT. And it continues…
9. Operational and applications software for ASIM’s.
10. Sensors for space applications.
11. Biomedical applications for human exploration of space (which basically means the idea or concept for physical interaction of nano-scale devices with human operators on space missions; presumably to help combat ailments, viruses, etc).
12. Defining precise manufacturing and packaging platforms and procedures.
13. Software considerations for design, fabrication, administration and general operations.

It is quite obvious that they wanted to take everything into account during this conference. They really, really were serious! There were three days of general presentations and a following one-and-a-half days of practical ‘workshop’ sessions. Those present focussed on specific conceptual and technological considerations, that led to recommendations for implementations in the future.

The actual decisions reached at, or by the end of the conference is probably not known to anyone who was not there, as no information regarding this is mentioned on this website that I looked through (and I still have it – ‘highest bidders please…’). But it can be said that a great deal of something was reached. Unless this whole thing was indeed, yet another pass-the-buck/sponsorship/tax-fiddle stunt… A gravy boat for an unknown inner, inner circle. Who knows?

By pure coincidence, I came across a copy of the ‘Sun’ a few days after reading this article – and in it was a picture of an ANT with a microchip in its’ JAWS! The newspaper was on a table in a Chinese take-away… Initially a scam involving photo-retouching software came to mind, but the article went on to explain that the article was NOT a hoax, but most very, very real indeed.

The ant was of the kind found in the U.K and approx’ 3.5mm long (which are a lot smaller than those found on the European continent (never mind say Africa/South America) that are approx’ 5-6mm long), so how small was the microchip!? At that scale/proportion, it must have been in the region of 1.5×1.5mm Square! The article stated that 100,000+ transistors were on it!! The ‘VLSI’ (very large scale integration) microchip (a prototype at least) was already conceived as early as 1985-86 (although I herd ‘VLSI’ even a few years before that), so I totally accept what this article said and its accompanying photograph. Perhaps this microchip in the ant’s jaws was the first ‘VvLSI’ device (very very large scale integration)?

The small ‘v’ by the way, is because two upper-case V’s look like a ‘W’ side by side…’ Of all the things you end up discovering… The gist of what the article said is as follows – and more than backs-up or makes feasible/credible, this ‘Nano Space-98′ conference. By 2020, micro-scale and nano-scale technology will be as pervasive as current ‘normal’ microchip/computer technology is today. Apparently, the present (at the time of writing this) so-called pinnacle of ICCT (information, computer + communications technology) forged by the ‘old-guard’ of IBM, Intel & Microsoft; will become obsolete.

In 2020 a standard cell-phone will be a ring on your finger. An entire computer system of desktop/notebook capability will be a roll-out/roll-up flexi-screen, or button-hole-microphone sized high-resolution projector connected to a ‘matchbox’ in your pocket. Smart-bugs in your veins will automatically detect infected cells and carpets will be able to change colour and depth of pile! Flying video-drones moving at twenty, thirty, forty miles-an-hour and powered by the sun, will relay video evidence to the authorities (or to corporations…) A whole new industry will have been created worth £100+billion a year. The world hasn’t only just got small, it’s getting even smaller. And as to what this is about to begin with – micro/nano-technology in space; is that outer space or INNER space? And why was there no mention of this conference (and what it implies) to the public at large?

Just when you thought we have reached the summit of man’s engineering wisdom, we realize that we are just scratching the surface. There’s so much more promise lurking in technologies that harness the power of the atom. No, we’re not talking about nuclear fusion, though that’s another leap alright from the current fission technologies that have given rise to the atom bomb and nuclear power plants lighting our homes. This time, it’s about the technologies that allow manufacturers to handle parts at the molecular level. It’s called nanotechnology, or nanotech for short.

Savoring the possibilities…

For sure the technology is here and it’s beyond just science fiction. There have been research funding from large companies like IBM who have a great stake on nanotechnology as their future businesses. And it is just a matter of time before the first commercial nano products becomes available. We’re looking around the end of the next decade.

• Revolutionary nano materials. Nanotechnology is basically about rearranging molecular structures to assume new materials with the quality we need. You can expect significantly lighter and sturdier materials that can benefit air and space travel, not to mention road travel. Materials lighter than Kevlar and carbon fibers we now use but at remarkably lower cost when used in commercial aviation and other modes of transport will usher cheaper travel fares as it will take lesser amount of fuel to propel them. In addition, fuel sources can be developed using the same nanotechnology that can provide longer battery lives and cheaper fuel alternates.

• Nanocomputers will have microprocessor chips more powerful but are 3-4 times smaller than the most powerful chips we have today. Lithography that has made possible the miniaturization of computers we now enjoy in our mobile phones and netbooks has reached its peak and can no longer yield smaller computing footprints. If computer chip makers are to continue with the trend of increased computing power every year and smaller footprints every 8-12 months, a new manufacturing technology that goes smaller than what Lithography can deliver is needed.

• Nanotechnology opens a new vista for computing and memory storage technologies under radical production techniques that are currently underway. Rather than manipulating silicon with hair-thin circuits on wafer thin boards stacked inside your microprocessor chips, the microprocessor will start to operate on a molecular level to process even greater computer instructions.

• Medication heals at the cellular or molecular level. Medicines don’t heal; it’s the cells that have regained health that heal to bring you back to your healthy self. Nanotechnology promises to revolutionize the way surgery is done by going deeper into the cellular level to correct the root causes of ailments. You won’t necessarily reduce the size of a ship with doctors in it to travel through the bloodstream as in the movies. But both medication and surgery at the cellular level are expected to yield quantum leaps in medical science.

• The military application of nanotech is not about to be overlooked both by governments and weapons manufacturers. We now have smart bombs and other smart weaponry, but in the near future, expect truly smart weapons right in your hands that can evade surveillance or be tracked to their intended targets. Chemical weapons that can think to reach targets with better containment won’t be far once the technology is there to manipulate at the molecular level. GP