From: George Dvorsky (sentdev@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jan 06 2003 - 11:28:22 MST
The Edge.org has posted its responses to a hypthetical question posed by
President Bush to various scientists: "What are the pressing scientific
issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can
begin to deal with them?"
http://www.edge.org/q2003/question03_index.html
Some very interesting contributions. Here's a couple of samples to pique
your interest:
K. Eric Drexler: "Advanced nanotechnologies, based on molecular
manufacturing, will enable the production of computer systems a billion
times more powerful than today's, aerospace vehicles with 98% less
structural mass, and medical tools enabling molecular repair of cells,
tissues, and organs. These and related technologies will be economically and
strategically decisive."
Joel Garreau: "We are entering an era of scientific change that is rocking
no less than human nature itself. This directed evolution is unprecedented.
It is convulsing everything from the affairs of state, to defense, to
commerce, to labor, to education, to health, to welfare, to the economy. It
is not science fiction. It has begun to occur and is accelerating this
decade. You need an advisor who can help you try to ride this curve of
change."
Eduardo Punset: "Science is pointing towards an LSD-like world without LSD
intake. And we are wholly unprepared for both. Math, Physics, Chemistry,
Biology and Psychology—the things we are made of—are inextricably
intertwined. People though, remain interactiveless and disentangled."
Lee Smolin: "In the modern world, science, democracy and prosperity go hand
in hand, and it is no coincidence that throughout history those nations that
led the development of democracy also led their times in scientific
advancement."
Ray Kurzweil: "... my proposal is on a different front: to dramatically
increase funding for promising new methodologies in the field of "human
somatic cell engineering," which bypass entirely fetal stem cells. These
emerging technologies create new tissues with a patient's own DNA by
modifying one type of cell (such as a skin cell) directly into another (such
as a pancreatic Islet cell or a heart cell) without the use of fetal stem
cells."
Regards,
George
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