tkdguy Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/nano/2005-08-18-nanotube-breakthrough_x.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Oooo . . . ! , tkd! Catchier name? Hmm . . . Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 21, 2005 Report Share Posted August 21, 2005 Re: Nanotech! My problem with nanotech is the concept of them communication with each other, or staying powered. To wit - they can't use radio frequencies to transmit power or to communicate. The size of the antennae. Even if they could, the resultant radiation would fry whatever organic thing was in the cloud of nanites. Plus there's the complete inability to bleed off excess heat generated (they just don't have the surface area). I just can't see how nanotech machines could be powered, or organised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Oooo . . . ! , tkd! Catchier name? Hmm . . . Anyone? N-tubes? NT-sheets? Oh, and Curufea, getting rid of waste heat depends on surface to volume ratio. If shape is kept the same, the smaller a thing is the faster it radiates heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale A. Ward Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Re: Nanotech! As I recall, Robert Heinlein wrote about a similar discovery about 50 years ago, in his Future History series of novels. I can't recall the names of the two characters who invented this thing, but it was the start of a major technological revolution. This thing was a panel that produced light when an electrical current was applied (big deal, eh? a lightbulb does that). but, what made it interesting was that, if you shined light on it, it produced electricity! Sort of a hybrid between a photovoltaic cell and a lightbulb... doesn't sound all that impressive on the surface. But, it was the gateway to a whole new world. Heinlein has been dead for almost 20 years, and he still amazes me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Wow. I knew this was coming soon, but I didn't realize the specs. A square mile weighs 170 pounds? Even assuming a more reasonable thickness, can you imagine aircraft built with this stuff? And it's also both transparent and light-emitting? Not to mention polarized... can you say "3D contact lenses?" I want to buy stock in the company, immediately. It will be prohibitively expensive for awhile, but once the manufacturing technology is developed, look out world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Re: Nanotech! As with much new science - it will be put to military uses first. That's where the big money is. They have disposable income to waste on any new toy to make them feel macho... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted August 23, 2005 Report Share Posted August 23, 2005 Re: Nanotech! As with much new science - it will be put to military uses first. That's where the big money is. They have disposable income to waste on any new toy to make them feel macho... Fine by me, as long as they develop a cost-efficient way to manufacture it in quantity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Fine by me' date=' as long as they develop a cost-efficient way to manufacture it in quantity.[/quote'] It won't matter, because they'll ineviotably develop the super-weapon that will uninentionally destroy homo sapiens. The existence of annotech makes "grey goo", and the end of the world, inevitable. I'm tempted to jump off a bridge now. I'm beginning to think it is morally wrong to be alive and human. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale A. Ward Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! I'm beginning to think it is morally wrong to be alive and human. I'm of the opinion that it has the alternative beat all to heck and back again... But, that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! I'm tempted to jump off a bridge now. I'm beginning to think it is morally wrong to be alive and human. Michael, speaking as someone who reads and enjoys your posts, don't you react that way to more-or-less everything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! It won't matter' date=' because they'll ineviotably develop the super-weapon that will uninentionally destroy [i']homo sapiens[/i]. The existence of annotech makes "grey goo", and the end of the world, inevitable. Nah, I figure our humanoid robot slave class will revolt long before that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! As I recall' date=' Robert Heinlein wrote about a similar discovery about 50 years ago, in his [i']Future History[/i] series of novels. I can't recall the names of the two characters who invented this thing, but it was the start of a major technological revolution. This thing was a panel that produced light when an electrical current was applied (big deal, eh? a lightbulb does that). but, what made it interesting was that, if you shined light on it, it produced electricity! Sort of a hybrid between a photovoltaic cell and a lightbulb... doesn't sound all that impressive on the surface. But, it was the gateway to a whole new world. Heinlein has been dead for almost 20 years, and he still amazes me. IIRC Douglas-Martin Sunpower Screens. (I am such a geek!) (Sometime watch 2001 and look for the things commonplace today that didn't exist when the film was made. Laptop computers. Flat-screen TV's. Wireless LAN. Juice boxes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! (Sometime watch 2001 and look for the things commonplace today that didn't exist when the film was made. Laptop computers. Flat-screen TV's. Wireless LAN. Juice boxes.) And the inverse: The Pan Am logo on the commuter spaceship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale A. Ward Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! IIRC Douglas-Martin Sunpower Screens. (I am such a geek!) To quote Lucy Van Pelt when Schroeder finally played Jingle Bells the way she wanted it... That's It!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NuSoardGraphite Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Aritificial muscles? Solar-powered electricity? Looks like my Sexaroid is getting a big closer to reality every day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! And lest we forget, have a search on the web for "Von Neuman machine" although it applies to macrotech as well as nanotech. (actually, after Michael's post - I'm wondering if humanity as a "Von Neuman machine") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 Re: Nanotech! You could describe all life as natural self-replicating machines, but calling life a "von Neumann machine" is a bit backwards. As I've said all along, though, I think the biggest impact of nanotechnology will be in advanced materials, like this nanotube sheet. Inert materials are much easier to fashion than machines. We have a hard time constructing simple micromachines right now, much less constructing micromachines that can construct other micromachines. By the time we've got even a simple nanoscale von Neumann system, our advanced materials will be revolutionary. It's analogous to computers - sure it's possible to write a program that will write another program, but the more straightforward uses of programming changed the world long before then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! bucky-sheets!! like bucky-balls ... only ... flat. wonder what nanotech tastes like ...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! wonder what nanotech tastes like ...? A lot like diamonds. What? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! bucky-sheets!! like bucky-balls ... only ... flat. wonder what nanotech tastes like ...? Like carbon black, only more toxic: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/nanotubestoxic.php and http://subscript.bna.com/SAMPLES/osh.nsf/0/139287144bbd257385256fc0000032f8?OpenDocument Of course, these were for the nanotubes, not a nanosheet. JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Like carbon black, only more toxic: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/nanotubestoxic.php and http://subscript.bna.com/SAMPLES/osh.nsf/0/139287144bbd257385256fc0000032f8?OpenDocument Of course, these were for the nanotubes, not a nanosheet. JoeG Why am I so suprised the luddites and rifkins are at it again? Calling for bans on substances that don't exist yet, claiming they are too dangerous. Both studies were aspirated, not swallowed, nanotubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! Michael, speaking as someone who reads and enjoys your posts, don't you react that way to more-or-less everything? Most real-world developments, yes, because the planet is spiraling towards utter disaster. But there are some things that certain human beings do that do actually cause me to appreciate things. Mostly artists -- a species that could produce great art might actually have a place in the cosmos. But when one realizes that one's own life has been essentially a waste of food, water and oxygen, it's hard to feel good about the world as a whole. There are cattle that will never exist again because I have eaten steaks from them, and for what? Someone who has acoomplished more than I have in my life is homeless in Portland right now because I have an apartment he could be occupying. Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! But when one realizes that one's own life has been essentially a waste of food, water and oxygen, it's hard to feel good about the world as a whole. I'm not sure if this is just your "Internet persona"; personally, if I felt the way about my own life that you indicate above, I'd get checked for depression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted August 26, 2005 Report Share Posted August 26, 2005 Re: Nanotech! I'm not sure if this is just your "Internet persona"; personally' date=' if I felt the way about my own life that you indicate above, I'd get checked for depression.[/quote'] I don't get off even that easy. It would actually feel better if I were depressed, because at least then I'd have an excuse. On the earlier comment about Luddites: even though I am typing this on a collection of mass-proiduced devices, I am beginning to think that if the Luddites had won a lot of really horrible things, from Atomic Weapons to Peak Oil, would never have come to pass and western Civilization might actually have a shot at surviving past 2025. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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