I had a chance to briefly meet Ralph Merkle last week at the Crypto
conference. (Ralph, in addition to being a nanotech pioneer, was
a co-founder of public key cryptography back in the 1970s). I know
many list members know him, but I was suprised at how friendly and open
he was. I think we may have been the only two cryonics subscribers at
the conference.
He was chatting about nano with some other folks, and there was discussion
of the MEMS approach to nanotech (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems,
basically microtech). This is similar to the original Feynman conception,
little tools which make smaller ones. You'd use MEMS devices to help
position, organize and convey the smaller nanotech elements which might
be produced by conventional chemistry.
It's kind of a vague conception, but it is economically attractive
because there are a lot of commercial applications for MEMS and they
are technically feasible right now. You could envision a succession of
ever smaller MEMS devices until the field overlaps with nanotech.
Hal
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