PRESS RELEASE: DECEMBER 8, 2006
Nanotechnology Report Creates Urgency for Preparation
Nanotechnology as a method
of general-purpose manufacturing, making powerful products with revolutionary
implications -- that concept received a significant boost this week with
publication of a long-awaited US government report.
A congressionally-mandated review of US nanotechnology policy conducted by the
National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) includes a study of "the feasibility of
manufacturing systems capable of building, with molecular precision, complex
systems that consist of multiple components." The Center for Responsible
Nanotechnology (CRN) expects that the NMAB report will accelerate research
toward the development of molecularly-precise manufacturing. However, without
adequate understanding and preparation, exponential atom-by-atom construction of
advanced products could have catastrophic results. Conclusions published in this
report should create a new level of urgency in preparing for molecular
manufacturing.
Future generations of nanotechnology will use advanced nanoscale machinery to
construct powerful products with molecular precision. Molecular construction
will lead to advanced capacities, including tabletop fully-automated factories
capable of constructing duplicate factories in less than a day. The economic,
security, military, and environmental implications of molecular manufacturing
will be extreme. Vicious cycles in any of these areas could spiral quickly out
of control unless the problem has been studied and understood in advance.
Extreme or hasty responses to developing problems could easily make things
worse.
According to the NMAB report, "the important task before the committee was to
assess the feasibility of sophisticated manufacturing processes...not usually
considered to be examples of self-assembly" in order "to produce more complex
materials, devices, and, perhaps even entire complex systems from molecular
components in a bottom-up fashion." The report concluded that although some
parameters and capabilities cannot be predicted with certainty at this time, "[r]esearch
funding that is based on the ability of investigators to produce experimental
demonstrations that link to abstract models and guide long-term vision is most
appropriate to achieve this goal." CRN expects this finding, as well as the more
detailed reviews in the body of the report, to strengthen a growing acceptance
of molecular manufacturing concepts.
Increased funding of research leading toward exponential construction of
atomically-precise products is now a strong possibility. The Center for
Responsible Nanotechnology urgently recommends equivalent funding and priority
for research into the profound societal and environmental implications of
molecular manufacturing, including consideration of the most aggressive
potential timelines and powerful capabilities.
Further Reading:
NMAB Report: "A
Matter of Size: Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative"
(see pages 106-108)
"Thirty Essential Nanotechnology Studies" (covers many
topics, from technical issues to organizational responses to problems)
"Molecular
Manufacturing: What, Why and How" (a roadmap from today's capabilities to
advanced molecular manufacturing systems)
The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (www.CRNano.org), a non-profit
think tank concerned with the major societal and environmental implications of
advanced nanotechnology, is headquartered in New York. CRN was an affiliate of
World Care, an international, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. The opinions
of CRN do not necessarily represent those of World Care.
