From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Jul 26 2003 - 10:10:03 MDT
_Our Molecular Future: How nanotechnology, robotics, genetics, and artificial
intelligence will transform our world_ by Douglas Mulhall
Prometheus Books, 2002, HB, 392PP, Bib, Ind, Illus, $28.00, ISBN 1 57392 9921
Futurology can be a funny business. Like science fiction with an MBA, tomes
such as *Our Molecular Future* inevitably tell you more about the concerns
of the present than the path of the future. They can often be at their
most fascinating 10 or 50 years down the line, when you can marvel at how
much they got right or, more usually, chortle at how wrong they were in
their extremes of optimism or pessimism. And in many cases, there's a
certain strain of quasi-religious revelation about the whole exercise.
Douglas Mulhall, a journalist and sustainable development consultant, sets
out to be speculative rather than predictive, and dedicates the book to
anyone "who walks the perilous path between those who claim that technology
will solve our problems, and those who say it will destroy us" -- a suitably
fortean ideal. Disappointingly, his own writing sometimes fails to live up
to that standard.
*Our Molecular Future* is centred on the potential of molecular
nanotechnology -- the manipulation of matter at the molecular level, as
popularised in the late 1970s by Eric Drexler. The first half of the book
is a fairly straightforward prognostication of the potential benefits or
problems of the technological vanguard. According to Mulhall, nanotech
promises to revolutionise society and economy, deliver virtually free
energy and the flying car, and save humankind from terrorism, earthquake,
disease and asteroid impact.
Interlinked areas of robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality
and genetic manipulation also come into play. The book opens with the
concept of 'singularity' -- the point at which humans are effectively
rendered obsolete by advancing machine intelligence, unless we decide
to upgrade ourselves of course. It closes 300 pages later with the
assurance that nanotechnology can enable us to "transcend our dark side
and enter a new era".
Although Mulhall displays some scepticism towards the more outré claims
of the Extropian movement and suchlike techno-utopians, there's an
inescapable note of visionary evangelism in his own writings.
Interestingly, he tells of how he was struck by a sudden realisation of
the fragility of Earth civilisation while observing the Shoemaker-Levy
comet crash into Jupiter in 1994, a moment of illuminating epiphany.
The central section of the book details the many natural catastrophes
that could cripple or destroy civilisation, and includes a detour into
historical catastrophism and the fate of Atlantis, complete with an
appearance by the ubiquitous Graham Hancock. New technologies, of
course, can deliver us from such fates. This juxtaposition of ideas
did, however, make me ponder that perhaps Atlantis developed into a
truly nanotech civilisation, and the reason its ruins have gone as yet
undiscovered is because they're really, really wee.
Mulhall has deliberately set out to write the 21st century equivalent of
Alvin Toffler's *Future Shock.* Various sections of his wilder speculation
are likely to alienate technologist and environmentalist alike, and his
rather excitable rhetoric doesn't always help: molecular nanotechnology is
like "a magma dome rumbling beneath the surface of society, ready to blast
out from countless vents, burn away every obsolete technology, and establish
a new substrate on which to build", apparently.
The other problem with books such as this is that they very rapidly become
outdated. In the early chapters, Mulhall provides a rapid introduction to
cutting-edge nanotech research, including the groundbreaking research at
Bell Labs in the U.S. Since the book's publication, much of this research
has been discredited following the discovery of fraud involving star
researcher Hendrik Schön.
Nonetheless, this is an informed and provocative manifesto for a
technological century. And forteans should be pleased to learn that the
world could get a whole lot weirder and, Mulhall promises, more personally
satisfying.
Tim Chapman
Fortean Times verdict: 6
...over-egged provocative manifesto for the 21st century...
-- Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com > Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
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