Rule Number One: Too big to comfortably fit inside a nostril? Definitely not nano.
Nano Silver, , Maglite Nano, Chi NaNo, GNU Nano, Tata Nano, Fantasea Nano, Halle Nano–even before Apple successfully lost a lawsuit to competitor Creative Zen, the nanotrickle that started around the time Alesis launched its NanoVerb was bound to turn into a mighty megatorrent. Never mind that most nanobrands have absolutely nothing to do with real nanoscale phenomena (one notable local exception being General NanoSystems:, as hard drives benefit all over the place from nanotech). Given the handle’s handiness and brand managers’ limited imaginations, we’re nowhere near the nanomania epidemic’s end. By this time two years from now, energy-conscious conspicuous consumer-pantses SUV enthusiasts might very well be driving 3/4-scale Hummer NanoXtremes.
Rule Number Two: Big enough to seat a child? Absolutely not nano.
But what about real nanotech, the stuff first postulated in 1959 by (surprise!) Richard Feynman? that operates at molecular and atomic levels? Self-replicating machines the size of molecules and atoms? Materials that behave way differently at nanoscale? (Gold, for example, becomes a liquid.) While substantially lesss visible than the sum of all nanobranded products, it’s coming along very quickly indeed. An article in December 27′s New Scientist touches on 2008′s biggest nanostories (and a few potential pitfalls) but really only just scratches the field’s uppermost layer of self-repairing surface atoms. In addition to the applications cited in the piece, carbon nanotubes have already made inroads in medicine, construction, and any number of other realms. Plus, a lot of nanotech research (think “military,” for starters) takes place under very tight wraps.
Ignore dude and blood. Go straight to nano.
What we know is scary impressive enough. Since 2003, researchers at MIT’s Army-funded Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies have been popping out next-gen combat solutions ranging from shape-shifting, germ-proof armor to ultrasensitive chemical detectors. But what about our best defense’s front end? After all, tiny machines capable of repairing us internally and externally could almost certainly be turned to destructive ends–especially when they’re tasteless, odorless, easily airborne, invisible, and capable of gathering in very large numbers to rip our innards and/or outtards to shreds.
Nanotech in the military: as always L and B deliver the goods.
As neither our government nor any other–not to mention potential players among terrorist/criminal organizations and private military corporations–stands to spill much in the way of beanage any time soon, we have no choice but to consult the absolute final authority on all future-related matters: science fiction. Motherlode! Tons of prominent writers--Poul Anderson, Iain M. Banks, John Barnes, Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, Greg Egan, William Gibson, Ian R. MacLeod, Ken McLeod, Larry Niven, Jeff Noon, Alastair Reynolds, Kim Stanley Robinson, Rudy Rucker, Dan Simmons, Brian Stableford, Neal Stephenson, Michael Swanwick, Vernor Vinge, and Jack Williamson, to name but several–have tackled nanotechnology (weapons-grade and otherwise) in one or more books, mostly written back in the 20th. In Kevin J. Anderson‘s 1998 X-Files novel Antibodies, ancient television characters Mulder and Scully even had a shot at malicious nanotech.
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Stephenson reads from his latest.
While Stephenson’s Dickensian 1995 epic, The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer still stands as fiction’s most dazzling take on the subject to date, our century’s SF promises an even bigger nano bonanza than the last’s. In Neal Asher‘s 2004 romp The Skinner, nanomachines restore the life of a cop who’s been mostly dead for 700 years, nearly killing him all the way in the process. The hive-minded, nanobot “bitmites” in Hal Duncan‘s magisterial 2005 debut, Vellum, do all kinds of dirty work for their angelic employers but start acting autonomously just in time for a scene more breathtaking than getting slammed against a slaughterhouse wall at 20 mph. In 2007′s Getting to Know You, David Marusek gives the citizens of his near-future America any number of good reasons to cower in domed cities, but nanonasties rank among the best. Even videogames–traditionally where terminally tired tropes go to die find new unlife fueling wildly successful franchises–got into the nano act last year with Hideo Kojima‘s elegant (and speaking of PMCs, all too prescient) Metal Gear Solid 4.
Solid Snake consults his physician. Kojima makes his “peers” look like one-dimensional hacks.
But life is short, Kojima’s magnum opus, long, and not all of us have the 12 or more hours the game can easily devour. Plus, there’s way more to nanotech than the cure/kill dichotomy favored by speculative fictioneers in all media (though Asher provides a curiously thrilling account of a routine nanotube construction job in 2006′s Polity Agent). “Where can seekers get their feet wet in the straight nanopoop?” you ask. Any interested party could do far worse than a back-story stop at Nanopedia. Members of the leisure class (and/or unemployed folks) can luxuriate to their little hearts’ content(s) at Nanotech News. For those of us lacking the time to wade through the latter’s minutiae, the aforementioned New Scientist is good, Kurzweil AI.net, better. Given that a good chunk of his rep hinges on beneficial nanotech’s steady progress (and malignant apps’ concurrent containment), no non-player pays closer attention to the field than site proprietor, inventor, and renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil. Looking to dig deeper? Check out K. Eric Drexler, whose highly readable Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology enabled the general public’s first extended glance at the topic back in 1986.
Kurzweil waxes prophetic at TED
Drexler sees Kurzweil, raises him one at 2006′s Singularity Summit.
Robin Williams in the ’70′s: Just one vowel off.
