Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Picture of the day

The Scale of Things



An enlightening chart covering the nanometer can be found at the home page of The Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

http://cnst.rice.edu/cnst.cfm?doc_id=1209

Interesting Bits

A great bit on the Singularity starts with an article by Michael Anissimov, and follows up with a discussion. Read about how “The word “Singularity” has been losing meaning for a while now” and “Rather than any single idea, Singularity has become a signifier used to refer to a general cluster of ideas, some interrelated; some, blatantly not. These ideas include: exponential growth, transhuman intelligence, mind uploading, singletons, popularity of the Internet, feasibility of life extension, some developmentally predetermined “next step in human evolution”, feasibility of strong AI, feasibility of advanced nanotechnology, some odd spiritual-esque transcension, and whether or not human development is primarily dictated by technological or social forces."

"Quite frankly, it’s a mess.” To which I’d agree, in the sense that there are many opposing points of view and conflicting ideologies as to make this a topic that will remain contentious, and worth reading about.

http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/?p=504

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The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology announced “a series of professional-quality scenarios of a near-future world in which exponential general-purpose molecular manufacturing becomes a reality.”

As a participant in the first CRN Task Force Scenario Project I would like to invite readers to consider these “what ifs” as worthwhile reading for anyone wishing to expand their understanding of advanced nanotechnologies and their implications.

And for those of you who would like to step off the sidelines and get in the game, consider this “You can participate in a discussion of these scenarios (and anything else you'd like to bring up) by joining our CRN-talk Yahoo group.”

http://www.crnano.org/CTF-Scenarios.htm