Singularity Sunrise

Quantum Computing Advances

If you have a quantum computer, is it on even when it's off? Ok, just having some fun, here's the news (BBC News - Major leap for faster computers):

Edinburgh and Manchester University researchers have created a molecular device which could act as a building block for super-fast computers. They have created components that could be used to develop quantum computers, which can make intricate calculations faster than conventional machines. The academics used molecular scale technology instead of silicon chips. They achieved the breakthrough by combining tiny magnets with molecular machines that can shuttle between two locations without the use of external force.

PS. The answer is: Yes and No at the same time.

Calling All Mad Scientists

Here is a report about a conference last summer in which the U.S. military invited, recruited and encouraged scientists to build a bigger, badder future:

Last August, the U.S. Army held a three-day conference in Portsmouth, Virginia, to look at new developments in military science and hardware. The confab was called the "2008 Mad Scientist Future Technology Seminar." Really. It was. "The objective of the seminar was to investigate proliferating technologies with the potential to empower individuals and groups in the next 10-25 years," according to an unclassified summary of the Mad Scientist gathering, obtained by Danger Room. As you'd expect from such a colorfully-titled gathering, the collected brains predicted a world in which individuals would have easy access to everything from ray guns to nano-bots to bioengineered weapons to arms for creating international chaos online.

I'm still waiting for my nanobots but I certainly appreciate that they are making an effort.

Warning on Nanometerials

 

A UK study on nanometerials has concluded with a warning about the dangers posed by the new materials and recommendations for industries using them (BBC News - Action urged over nanomaterials):

Urgent regulatory action is needed on nano-scale materials widely used in industry, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has concluded. The materials have so far shown no evidence of harm to people or the environment, the commission found. However, it said there was a "major gap" in research about the risks posed by the materials, which are found in some 600 products globally. [...] The commission added that it saw no reason to implement a blanket ban or moratorium on the development and implementation of nanomaterials, because of the societal benefits they represented, for example, to medicine and the renewable energy industry. Instead, it urged co-operative, international action to establish tests for their dangers and regulatory oversight. They also suggested changing the industrial reporting of the use of nanomaterials from voluntary to mandatory, with an industry "checklist" to flag up the products that posed the highest potential risk.

These proposals are prudent and should be considered on this side of the Atlantic. I suspect though (perhaps too cynically), that real oversight of these materials won't be implemented until actual humans are harmed by the commercial or industrial use of nanomaterials. This is simply the way our system works, especially when government regulations are written by industry lobbyists.

The Carbon Nanotube Future

According to this report from Wired News and the AP there have been some recent advances in the application of carbon nanotube technology that promise to aid commercial and industrial manufacturing (Wired News - Future planes, cars may be made of `buckypaper'):

Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.[...] So far, buckypaper can be made at only a fraction of its potential strength, in small quantities and at a high price. The Florida State researchers are developing manufacturing techniques that soon may make it competitive with the best composite materials now available. [...] The long-range goal is to build planes, automobiles and other things with buckypaper composites. The military also is looking at it for use in armor plating and stealth technology.

This is a great report for those unfamiliar with buckyballs, it offers some background on their discovery, current applications, and moves on to promise us a future of light weight and stronger-than-steel materials that will revolutionize everything. Ok, maybe not everything, but lots of things, and soon, and for the rest of our lives. Stepping back from the hype, calming down, and thinking maybe this is really about a decade out for anything consumers may actually notice in their daily lives. Still, it's an amazing technology, worth keeping tabs on.

Blogroll: Soft Machines

New to the blogroll, Soft Machines, a blog about thoughts on the future of nanotechnology from Richard Jones. Soft Machines is also a book about nanotechnology for the general reader, published by Oxford University Press. More details about the book can be found here.

Planning for Abundance

One of the reasons many in the entertainment industry have failed to adapt to the economics of abundance inherent in the digital revolution is that they embrace (or at least refuse to look beyond) classical models of scarcity. This post on the TechDirt blog (which often considers such issues) looks forward to a time when technology will allow not only for digital abundance but also material abundance (thanks to nanotech and molecular manufacturing). Is it too much to hope for that in discussing such issues now we can plan for a future based on abundance instead of scarcity and that the economy will make a seamless transition to the new era?

Olympian Technology

Check out this Wired News Gallery on how high technology is helping athletes in the Olympics. Carbon nanotubes and VR goggles lend a hand.

Nanoparts

We may not have nanomachines yet, but a team at UCLA is standing by to produce the parts for the machine (Gallery: From Tiny Machines To Security, the Future of Nano-Fabrication):

In anticipation of this demand, researchers at a nanotech lab at UCLA are mass-producing billions of customizable microparticles using a machine normally found in the microchip fabrication industry. Lead by Dr. Thomas Mason, the team has created microscale letters to illustrate the possibilities of this new process.

"The idea is to make a powerful statement about a new class of materials that exist. Solid particles that have human-designed shapes. We can design millions of different kinds of shapes, highly uniform, highly precise," explains Mason.

Mason's ultimate goal is to quickly create large quantities of parts for complicated nanomachines. These parts would include nanogears, nanoengines and other small-scale parts that are currently created one at a time in an assembly line fashion. Click through the gallery to go behind the scenes of microfabrication.

There are some interesting images in the gallery, they make the advent of nanomachines seem all the nearer.

Nanotech Risks & Rewards

The International Herald Tribune's Business of Green Blog wonders if we are ready for Full speed ahead for nanotechnology? The blog post briefly notes both the dangers posed by nanotech and the potential rewards, but doesn't really give us much more than that.

Nanotech Dangers

In keeping with the last post, I think I'll stay with the nanotech theme. Here's a recent report that examines the dangers of nanotech (AlterNet - Nanotech: Why Something So Small Can Be So Dangerous):

But nanomaterials also pose possible serious risks to the environment and human health -- risks that researchers have barely begun to probe, and regulators have barely begun to regulate. What's more, the potential damage could take years or even decades to surface. So these tiny particles could soon become the next big thing -- only to turn into the next big disaster.

I think it's important to check our enthusiasm for technology with such sober thoughts, we really do need to give careful thought to what we are doing, and what our technology can do to us and our environment.