Thoughts and Theories From Roger Andre
for the curious, and people getting to grips with computing and computers.
Sunday 28 September 2008, 11:47 PM
Nano Tech In The Extreme.
Hi everyone. Before getting to the point of this particular nano blog, lets have a quick look at where we are today in the world of nano technology.
1. On the 18/9/08 it was reported that Penn State researchers in the USA have developed a method to cheaply copy the structures found on biological surface structures, meaning that we could be driving around in cars coloured in the matt black of a butterflys wing, or the metallic finish of some beatles.
2. 17/9/08 A breaktrough is reported by engineers and scientists in the development of a new carbon based material called graphene. This would allow us to double the electrical charge stored on todays ultra capacitors. Good news for the renewable energy sector.
3. 15/9/08 Naometer sized cargo ships (maybe they should be called
cargo subs) have been developed that can sail through the blood stream and avoid detection by the bodys immune system. Then they can find their way to any undetected tumors and deliver the relevent medicines on site to combat them.
More information can be found here for those interested:
http://www.nano.org.uk/news/newsarchive.htm
Anyway, my point is this: one day I do really belive that you could have a load of very mineral rich soil and then send in preprogramed nano bots and watch almost anything you want grow out of the ground, anything from a house brick to a circuit board. This would sideline the need for heavy industry and manufacturing.
The power as I have mentioned elsewhere, would come from other nano bots able to extract on demand, the power required from individual atoms. This would be a gentle process and would eliminate the need for bashing the hell out of nature to get our energy.
"And what of jobs and the economy"? I hear some cry. Well with such nano power extraction on demand It would be possible to run out door heating at no cost to the planet and open up a new era of plenty, as far as feeding the world population is concerned.
And, as for growing material goods, this would still need intense supervision by people, especially if windows is still in the running.....
PreviousComments on this post
The real point here is, what will power the bots? How will they self assemble in the billions and what/ who will be in control of them?
We're still miles away from having nanobots strip harmful materials from landfill waste atom by atom and reassembling them into useful materials or using bots to form and construct a brick!
Many of the endeavours, such as the few you have reported on above, particularly how we could be driving around in cars coloured in the matt black of a butterflys wing, or the metallic finish of some beatles, seem for the most part, pretty inane to me.
Until the world stops producing (and consuming) the gazillion billion tonnes of non-essential material products (think useless plastic movie promotional characters, faux 'bling' jewellery, $2 junk stuff, ridiculous packaging for quick consumable throw-away products, mass circulation infotainment magazines etc) we're pretty much going to remain reliant upon fossil fuels and current production methodologies for at least some time.
My enviro moto is this:
"DONT WAIT FOR THE FUTURE. MAKE YOUR DIFFERENCE MATTER NOW"!
TFD
I agree with your comment about the inane things, It is sad that one day we could be killed by marketing, amongst other things.
To power the bots, I mentioned above that there are probably ways in which to drill, tap, stroke energy out of atoms that we havn't concieved of yet, but I believe that we will.
How and who would control these bots? Well... that's a good question, as supervision is not the same as control at all. I suppose they would have to be very tightly coded, with any AI being severely limited.
There may be ways in which to drill, tap, stroke energy out of atoms that we haven't conceived of yet but how much time do we have before things go even more pear shaped than they are? More than that, does anyone know the amount of resources used in researching and developing these potentially energy saving new materials?
What the world really needs is serious collaboration of monumental proportions in areas that CAN work HERE and NOW and not the continued pursuit of far sighted, long range and hugely expensive 'off world' fantasy projects the likes of Virgin Galactic's et al Space Travel programs which will only require more resources to achieve what can only be described as an ego centric benefit to those few who can afford the several hundred thousand pound ticket.
Mass consumerism needs to take a step back as of today.
People need to stop and THINK about the very products they are purchasing: Do I really need this thing? Why am I purchasing it? If I do buy it, then another one will need to take its place and I will be partly responsible for its creation and therefore its use of resources. Perhaps the true Carbon Footprint of an individual should not only be measured by their use of energy but also by their consumption of non-essential materially formed objects?
Think about it. Are the myriad products out there even necessary when considering the state of the planet? Just how much junk is produced and then thrown out in the world? Next time you go to a department store, have a hard look at all the 'stuff' we've become accustomed to thinking we need. Most of it finds its way to the landfill within a few years. Most of it ends up as junk - rather than items we truly cherish. Give a child ten toys for Christmas and he/she will end up choosing one as a favourite – the rest heaped into an ever swelling toy box or left strewn about the house.
Personally, I think we have a deep subconscious fear of the future and have made the acquiring of non-essential material objects our escape from what's really going on. The quick fix, pick-me-up, bargain basement, placating-the-ego purchase of some not really needed object has got to end. Every choice we make from here on should be conscious and should matter.
People should realise that if mass consumerism doesn’t abate then the notion that we will consume more resources in the next 2 decades than in the entire history of mankind may very well be realised! And where, may I ask, are we going to find all the resources to accommodate these material desires? The Moon? Other planets?
Surely by now everyone must realise they inhabit a one-of-a-kind, self contained life sustaining environment which has a calculable and finite amount of natural resources?
Fundamentally, the "what I want, when I want it" catch cry is at fault here and has been sold to us by the marketing and advertising machines of most of the largest corporations on the planet - who in turn are the ones pushing the very products most of us DON'T REALLY NEED. Somehow, we've allowed ourselves to be brainwashed (like Pavolv's dogs) into thinking that all this ‘stuff' matters!
The next time you reach out to pick up a shiny, attractive petro-hungry object; be it the latest squeeze-me-please soft toy, fabulously wrapped candy bar or a film promotional character from the local Macca’s - think again. Are any of the countless cash hungry research programs out there going to create the super-magic, cure-all, plastic-gobbling nanobot? Are the potentialities they proffer going to realise themselves in time to save us from the ever increasing toxic soup polluting our oceans, waterways, streets, parks, gardens or homes? And it's all because we keep buying more of the things we don’t really need only to throw them away without thought or consideration.
In light of the world’s current state, one only has to look back to those times when we thought the future would bring about positive change, when ‘the future would bring prosperity and peace to all’.
The final questions you have to ask yourself are these:
Should we rely on the future to make a difference to the present?
Should we live in hope and the promise of things to come?
Over to you!
thinkfeeldo
Hmmm...how much time indeed? Hopefully not at the point that we need to supplimnent our oxygen!
Care would need to be taken about how much energy we are using to make new materials, as highlighted by the insanity of the bio-fuel decable.
When you speak of what we can do here and now, my mind instantly wondered over to all the empty deserts in the world, like Australia, Africa, USA etc. Why did Australias most talented solar panel developers have their funding withdrawn? Luckily they found sanctuary and funding in California, but where's the mass deployment of solar panels? That would be very here and now.
Maybe this so called credit crunch will inspire some soul searching in individuals. I do percieve many of the so called adults around me to be acting like spoilt children, often prey to the drinks industry, to then find themselves further down the line as poor downtroden consumers.
Sounds bleak eh? And yes I do worry that humanity is being deliberatly brought to its knees, that there is an anti evolutionary global tyrany in this world. Like I said it is a worry of mine, but I hope it isn't really true.
I think that many people do realise inwardly that things are going wrong, but then deny it, again inwardly. Alarmingly a lot of my peers just don't seem to give a toss, and will become mocking or agressive when faced with such issues.
So maybe things will get to a point when the solution will have to be technology, of some sort. It's already too late for us in the UK, quarying has been taking place under the water table for some time, bringing future fresh water supplies under threat. Also; there are toxins leaching into the ground and water tables from heavy industry. So I do really hope the latest bio-remediation techniques can help to reverse some of the damage. And yes there may soon come a time when people will need to know how to grow their own food and the like.
However I do believe in the power of positive thought to change things for the better, for the individual and on mass
Meanwhile, I shall continue to leave the boiler off most of the time, do the recycling, and persuade the many people that think they need a new computer or car, to hang on to and maintain where possible, what they have.
peace.
Roger,
You say you believe in the power of positive thought. Perhaps it's time to review that belief and consider adopting a new perspective:
The Power of Positive Action.
;-)
ThinkFeelDo
Oh yes, that too.....I think when they are both mixed together then it seems to really work. I think the people we employ as our servents, and I'm talking about governments here, could do us all a real favour and bring in some very tough laws as far as comercial packaging and other excess is concerned.
Of course we are the ones with the real power, because we have a choice where to spend our money, but again if people appear not to care, this is where so called authority could step in and lend a hand, and maybe have the courage to put an end to the banks and big business monopoly of the worlds global money/credit whilst they are at it.
rog
