REVOLUTION IN NANOTECHNOLOGY

A Revolution in Nanotechnology
Imagine a future where consumers can purchase superior goods for less money
than the average cost of current generic products. This future is only a few decades
away and it’s going to be a manufacturing revolution. This revolution involves a new
scientiﬁc breakthrough in Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is a cutting-edge science
that involves rearranging molecules in order to create self-replicating manufacturing
systems (machines that can build copies of themselves). Understand that everything is
made up of tiny atoms and molecules.
Nanotechnology is going to take those atoms and molecules and arrange them
together to make molecularly precise machines. These machines will then be used to
create all the products we see in the world around us in a more efﬁcient way.
Production will be faster, stronger, more precise, less expensive, and less polluting then
existing production processes. The product market will become more engaging for
consumers because they will be able to have more control over the products they buy.
Purchases will be easier, faster, and aimed more toward individual consumer desires.
Once mastered, Nanotechnology will revolutionize the manufacturing industry through
enhancing consumer lifestyle by making the product market more engaging.
“The difference between coal and diamonds, sand and computers, between good
health and bad health is how the atoms are arranged” (Video). Try to imagine a spoon.
The spoon is made of some type of solid component that was molded, grinded, or cut
from existing solid materials. The spoon was essentially taken out of the material it
came from. And that material, at its most basic form, is tiny atoms and molecules.
Those tiny atoms make up the material element of the spoon. Nanotechnology will start
from those most basic parts and piece together the spoon from the bottom up.
Doctor Ralph Merkle, a principle researcher at Zyvex, uses this analogy in an
intro to Nanotechnology video to explain what Nanotechnology will do, “Today’s
manufacturing technologies really can’t arrange atoms with any degree of control. It’s
sort of like nature has given us a bunch of Lego Blocks and we’ve got boxing gloves on
our hands. Nanotechnology is going let us take off those boxing gloves and arrange the
fundamental building blocks of matter, the very atoms and molecules, in most of the
ways permitted by physical law.” (Video)
Garric G. Nahapetian of1 7 12/16/2003

He goes on to explain that Nanotechnology will be like a kitchen appliance. It will
have a menu or a control panel that has various items programmed into its memory. It
would need what Merkle describes as “toner” or “feedstock” so the devices have
something to work with. Once the desired item is selected from the menu the machine
will start building it and finish in a couple of hours. In the video Dr. Ralph Merkle also
states, “It will be able to build all the products we see in the world around us” (Video).
This is why these machines will be so appealing. Once a customer buys one
machine he or she will not have to buy any other products because the machine will be
able to build mostly product needed. However, consumers will have to provide their
machines with the appropriate “feedstock”. An owner will be able to replicate the
machine using his or her existing model as well. Now instead of having one machine
building products they can have multiple machines building products. Of course all this
is in theory because none of these machines have been built yet. However, Dr. Ralph
Merkle states that Nanotachnology will be operational within the next few decades.
I speculate that Nanoechnology will create a whole new way in which products
are ordered, built, and received by customers. I imagine the companies who control
Nanotechnology will establish factories around the world to produce all consumer items.
Consumers will then be able to order items online or by telephone. The products will be
built and shipped to the customer’s home or picked up by the customer at a local factory
or office. But customers will be able to create their own items by the use of new
computer software or they can choose from existing items that have already been
designed.
So lets say I want the factory to build me a chair. I can order an existing model
chair that the factory has programmed into their database, which will allow me to
choose from a number of chair style types. I just choose the chair that best fits my
needs. Or I can offer my own design by providing a computer disk with my chair design
for the factory and they would put it into their machine. This type of production will be
very effective in creating a market where consumers can get exactly what they want
without being charged current custom production costs. This type of business will be
more appealing by making consumer services easier too use and more accessible.

Because these new Nanotechnological machines build products themselves, it
seems that many people would loose their jobs. However, I predict many businesses
will arise that will help to create a more appealing product market. These businesses
will hire employees to run their operations. Since the machines are self-replicating,
meaning they can duplicate themselves, there will be factories filled with thousands of
these machines. Here the demand for workers will arise. First, there will have to be
people who supervise the production process that takes place inside the machines.
If something goes wrong with a machine someone will have to be there for
technical support. Second, because consumers tend to desire custom products
designed specifically to fit their needs and enjoy having products that no other people
have, I believe that a new market for computer programs and programmers that are
able to design these products for consumers, will arise. Consequently, there will be a
demand for computer programmers who can do custom designs using new advanced
computer software.
This will enhance consumer’s activity in the product market because they will
take on a more engaging role in the production-consumption process. Customers will
discuss what they want in their product. The programmer will create the product on the
computer. Once the product is designed, it will be saved onto a format that corresponds
to the factories software. The information will then be processed and the product
produced. After a while the computer software that the programmer uses will become
available to consumers.
Consumers will be able to create their own product on the computer and provide
the information to the factory so their product can be built. This new type of business
will be very appealing to consumers because it will allow them to get custom designed
products for generic production prices. Once consumers are able to own machines they
will be able to design and produce products themselves. They will then be able to sell
their own designs and products to other consumers.
Everyday consumers will become product designers and entrepreneurs.
However, I don’t believe the people who control this technology will let it get that far
because they will loose potential profits. They would basically be selling the cure for the

consumer disease. However, they would still maintain a monopoly on the “feedstock”
market because these theoretical machines cannot build without “feedstock”.
Any tangible object is made up of atoms and molecules therefore could be
considered “feedstock”. And some people believe that since the machines build using
atoms and molecules then they could just build using existing “feedstock”. They could
be fed plants or other products and build using those atoms. Dr. Ralph Merkle
disagrees, “If you asked could this be synthesized using existing organic chemistry, the
answer is I don’t think so” (Video).
As a consumer I love this concept and as I started to make my predictions I
thought that maybe I might have my chance to go into business for my self and open up
a factory of my own and start making products or start doing custom designs for people.
As a consumer I love custom products. I love to know that no one else has the same
stuff that I do. My impression is that most other people feel the same way because we
have different styles and taste. We are always trying to be original and come up with
our own ideas. And when our ideas are good we wish that we could just produce and
sell them. Nanotechnology is going to let us do just that. We are going to be able to
build whatever we want faster, easier, and cheaper.
Nanotachnology seems so great. But I have realized many bad things that might
arise from it. As I stated earlier, the companies that control this technology may
monopolize the industry making it difﬁcult to purchase products. They may not let
consumers receive their own personal machines. They may raise the price on their
products or may it become very hard to purchase the required “feedstock” to build. But
besides all that, what if some crazy person designs highly destructive weapons and
uses them in a terrorist attack. It would be very easy for some guy to design some
dangerous weapon and mass-produce it. Also, Ray Kurzweil writes of a self-destructive
future in Nanotechnology: Reinventing our Cells, “What happens if a little software
problem fails to halt the self-replication? We have more nanobots then we want.
They could eat up everything in sight” (Kurzweil 562). In some nanotechnology
circles this is known as the “gray goo” problem (Reynolds 1). In both the Reynolds and
Kurzweil essays they discuss the movie The Blob, which Kurzweil calls “a vision of
nanotechnology run amok” (Kurzweil 562). “The Blob” in The Blob was this intelligent

self-replicating goo that fed on organic matter. The “gray goo” problem is similar to “The
Blob” because some say that it could go around eating and turning everything into itself
until the whole world just became “grey goo”. “The self-replicating nature of
nanotechnology makes it a far greater danger” (Kurzweil 263).
However Dr. Ralph Merkle does not believe that these machines will be able to
replicate using existing organic chemistry. Therefore, this problem seems unlikely.
Another possibility that may arise is human-like machines. If scientists are able to map
the atomic structure of the human body then they could theoretically make humans
using Nanotechnolgy. And these bodies could be used for proﬁt. Edward Cornish
explains in The Cyber Future, “Cybersex systems may become widely available,
perhaps in the twenty-ﬁrst century” (Cornish 550). Once cyber bodies are constructed
people will be able to have relationships with machines. Sex will become a bigger
market through the sale of sex bodies. The term “safe sex” will have new meaning.
Sexually transmitted diseases will be less of a concern. “Social-welfare advocates
might also favor cybersex as a means of reducing illegitimacy, adultery, and sex crimes.
Cybersex could become a major growth industry. Now the only downside to this
is that it might greatly affect the way people relate to each other sexually. However, this
cybersex market will allow consumers to buy safe sex and purchase their own sex
slaves. This concept will really change consumer lifestyles. Ray Kurzweil describes, “A
future in which tiny, self replicating robots could transform the world we live in, making
virtual bodies real and increasingly blurring the lines between human and
machines” (Kurzweil 555).
Nanotechnology will also be applied to medicine. People will be able to buy
health. K. Eric Drexler states in Engines of Creation, “…cell repair machines will bring a
fundamental breakthrough: they will free medicine from reliance on self-repair as the
only path to healing” (Drexler). In theory, these cell repair machines will be the size of
bacteria and they will be able to enter the human body and surgically repair molecules,
cells, tissue, organs and virtually the whole human body. Drexlar sums up the ability of
these theoretical devices,
“By working through a person organ by organ, they will restore health…They will be
able to repair cells…and will be able to replace cells that have been destroyed.

Either way, they will restore health. Aging is fundamentally no different from any
other physical disorder…Brittle bones, wrinkled skin, low enzyme activities, slow wound
healing, poor memory, and the rest all result from damaged molecular machinery,
chemical imbalances, and misarranged structures. By restoring all the cells and tissues
of the body to a youthful structure, cell repair machines will restore youthful health.
(Drexlar). This will become an enormous consumer market where people will actually be
able to pay for extremely better health. This technology exceeds all other existing
medical capabilities therefore it will become a massive business.
When the computer was first built it was the size a living room. For the past forty
years computers have been getting smaller and smaller. Now, computers fit on
desktops. Using Nanotechnology computers will be go from desktop to wristwatch.
Once applied, Nanotechnology will make computers as small as one computer chip.
These “nanocomputers” will be just as good if not better than todays technology.
Computers will be smaller faster and more powerful. A whole network of operations
could run off one computer. Nanotechnology will definitely make computers better and
will only increase the possibilities as time and research goes on.
Nanotechnology appears to be a great idea. It has so many other uses not
stated in this essay. I believe that Nanotechnology will transform the way humans live.
It will give people a different outlook on life. It will take so many things that are thought
to be impossible and make them real. But I believe that it is very important for the
controllers not to rush the production of their theories. I feel that it is very important for
them to consider all the possibilities of Nanotechnology. I believe that if it is properly
introduced into our culture and controlled with respect toward consumers, it will merge
into our society to create a totally new consumer lifestyle.

Works Cited
Cornish, Edward. The Cyber Future 1996. Klonski, Edward. “Galileo to Gates: Human
Reactions to Science and Technology”. McCormick, Kathleen. Reading Our Histories,
Understanding our Cultures. Pearson Education Inc. Copyright 2003.
Drexlar, Eric K. Engines of Creation. http://www.foresight.org/EOC/EOC Published by
Russell Whitaker copyright 1986.
Kurzweil, Ray. Nanotechnology: Reinventing Our Cells 1999. Klonski, Edward. “Galileo
to Gates: Human Reactions to Science and Technology”. McCormick, Kathleen.
Reading Our Histories, Understanding our Cultures. Pearson Education Inc. Copyright
2003. 
Reynolds, Glenn Harlan. Environmental Regulation of Nanotechnology: Some
Preliminary Observations. ELR News & Analysis. Environmental Law Institute.
Washington D.C. copyright 2003. http://www.eli.org
Video, Introdction to Nanotechnology. http://www.zyvex.com/nano/. mms://
stream.techtv.com/windows/bigthinkers/2002/bt020225b_165_0.asf

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