Page 131 - Nanotechnology an introduction

contrast, the Industrial Revolution was very visible because of the colossal size of its products: gigantic bridges (e.g., the Forth bridge), gigantic
steamships (e.g., the Great Eastern) and, most gigantic of all if the entire network is considered as a single machine, the railway. And the steel for
these constructions was produced in gigantic works; a modern chemical plant or motor-car factory may cover the area of a medium-sized town. In
sharp contrast, the products of nanotechnology are, by definition, very small. Individual assemblers would be invisible to the naked eye. But of
course the products of the assemblers would be highly visible and pervasive—such as the ultralight strong materials from which our built
environment might be constructed.
12.1. Technical Revolutions
The anatomically modern human being, Homo sapiens, emerged some 200,000 years ago. Over 100,000 years apparently elapsed before his
superior mental capacities began to be exploited, as evidenced by sophisticated hunting tools, figurative arts, bodily embellishment ( jewelery, etc.)
and musical instruments, which have been found in Africa dating from 90,000 years before the Christian era (bce), although the initial bursts seem
to have later died out; about 45,000 years ago one finds similar evidence in Europe and western Asia (the so-called upper Palaeolithic explosion).
The first writing (cuneiform script) dates from as recently as around 3000 bce, and comprehensive written records of the past (i.e., the beginning of
history) only emerged around 600 (China)–500 bce (Greece).

The development of man is marked by technological breakthroughs, especially those concerning materials processing. So important are they that
the technologies give their names to the successive epochs of prehistory: the Stone Age (predating the emergence of Homo sapiens), so-called
because of simple stone implements, for example axes, made by knapping flint; pottery first seems to have been made around 20,000 bce (but it
took another 15,000 years before the potter's wheel was invented), the Bronze Age (starting about 3000 bce), the Iron Age (starting about 1000
bce, coincidentally with the emergence of glassmaking), rather than modes of life such as hunting, agriculture (starting about 12,000 bce),
pastoralism (around 5000 bce), urbanization, etc.
The most significant change in our way of life during the last two or three millennia was probably that brought about by the Industrial Revolution,
which began in Britain around the middle of the 18th century and marked the beginning of the Industrial Age; by the middle of the 19th century it was
in full swing in Britain and, at first patchily, but later rapidly, elsewhere in Europe and North America. Note that this revolution, unlike its
predecessors, was very much production-oriented (in other words, manufacturability was as much a consideration for what was produced as
usefulness). This in turn was replaced in the latter half of the 20th century by the still ongoing Information Revolution, which ushered in the Information
Age, marked by the development of unprecedented capabilities in the gathering, storage, retrieval and analysis of information, and heavily
dependent upon the high-speed electronic digital computer. The next revolution already appears to be on the horizon, and it is thought that it will be
the Nano Revolution.
Within a revolution capabilities grow exponentially—one could even say that the duration of the epoch of such exponential growth temporally defines
the revolution. This is sometimes quite difficult to perceive, because an exponential function is linear if examined over a sufficiently small interval,
and if the technology (or technological revolution) unfolds over several generations, individual perceptions tend to be strongly biased towards
linearity. Nevertheless, empirical examination of available data shows that exponential development is the rule (Ray Kurzweil has collected many
examples, and in our present epoch the best demonstration is probably Moore's law), although it does not continue indefinitely, but eventually levels
off.

Very often a preceding technological breakthrough provides the key to a successive one. For example, increasing skill and knowledge in working
iron was crucial to the success of the steam power and steel that were the hallmarks of the Industrial Revolution, which ultimately developed the
capability for mass production of the very large-scale integrated electronic circuits needed for realizing the Information Revolution.
Why do people think that the next technological revolution will be that of nanotechnology? Because once the technology has been mastered, the
advantages of making things “at the bottom”, as Feynman proposed [56], will be so overwhelming it will rapidly dominate all existing ways of doing
things. Once iron-making and iron-working had been mastered, no one would have considered making large, strong objects out of bronze;
mechanical excavators now reign supreme on building sites; no one uses a slide rule now that electronic calculators are available, and even
domestic appliances such as washing machines are controlled by a microprocessor.
Is it to be expected that information technology will be crucial for the realization of nanotechnology? Very probably yes. As explained in Chapter 10,
the design of nanomaterials and systems will be heavily dependent upon computation. Furthermore, nanofacture is scarcely conceivable without
computer-enabled automation of (bottom-to-bottom) assembly.
Another consideration is that, the Nano Revolution will consummate the trend of science infiltrating industry that began with the Industrial Revolution.
As J.D. Bernal has pointed out, this infiltration can be roughly described in four stages of increasing complexity Table 12.1). Clearly nanotechnology
belongs to Stage 4, at least in its aspirations. Traditional or conventional technologies (as we can label everything that is not nanotechnology) also
have Stage 4 as their goal but in most cases are still quite far from realizing it.

Table 12.1 The infiltration of science into industry (after Bernal)
Stage Description Characteristic feature(s)
1 Increasing the scale of traditional Measurement and standardization industries
2 Some scientific understanding of the processes (mainly acquired through systematic experimentation in accord with the scientific method) Enables improvements to be made
3 Formulation of an adequate theory (implying full understanding of the processes) Possibility of completely controlling the processes
4 Complete integration of science and industry, extensive knowledge of the fundamental nature of the processes Entirely new processes can be devised to achieve desired ends
Note that Stage 4 also encompasses the cases of purely scientific discoveries (e.g., electricity) being turned to industrial use. Nanotechnology is
the consummation of Stage 4; a corollary is that nanotechnology should enable science to be applied at the level of Stage 4 to even those very
complicated industries that are associated with the most basic needs of mankind, namely food and health.

Consideration of the anticipated impacts of nanotechnology on society needs to be set in the general context of technology impacts. Bernal has
pointed out the difficulties that arise from the discrepancy between the primitive needs of man, which are actually extraordinarily complex from the
scientific viewpoint (e.g., the biochemistry of food preparation, and the animal psychology involved in hunting and domestication), and the need for
understanding to proceed from the simple to the complex: what can be understood rationally must necessarily be simple, at least to begin with.
Unfortunately the simplest sciences, astronomy and mechanics, appeared (around 3000 and 400 bce, respectively) only after the main techniques
of human life had already been fixed. As a result, these techniques—encompassing such things as agriculture, cookery, husbandry, metalwork,