Re: femtochemistry

Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
13 Oct 1999 11:07:05 +0200

"Sean Kenny" <sean@irvken.free-online.co.uk> writes:

> I'm probably showing my ignorance but the Nobel prize for Chemistry went =
> today to Ahmed Zewail for his development of the new discipline of =
> Femtochemistry. As it's not something I've heard or read about before, =
> an easily excited fellow like myself gets a shiver up my spine imagining =
> that this might be the development that speeds the development of =
> nanotechnology.

It is about very fast chemical reactions, which take on the order of femtoseconds. It is partially relevant to nanotech, because we need to understand the dynamics of molecules better to build nanodevices.

> I'm sure someone can reassure me that we're not in =
> pre-singularity times.

If a singularity ever happens, we are in pre-singularity times right now :-)

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Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
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