Grey Goo

 

Nonfiction – by Peter Jekel 


 

By 2100, our destiny is to become like the gods we once worshipped and feared. Michio Kaku


Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was not a science fiction author. However, in many of his musings and lectures, he might as well have been one; he truly was a man ahead of his time. On December 29, 1959 he initiated a revolution that is still changing the world. Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist who worked alongside such physics “gods” as Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein on the Manhattan Project, gave a talk at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society, entitled There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom. The subject was borderline science fiction of the day; it was about the manipulation of atoms to alter matter, in other words, building matter from the atomic level up. In fact, the idea was so leading-edge that the it didn’t acquire a name until 1974 when Norio Taniguchi, a professor at the Tokyo University of Science came up with the name “nanotechnology;” he used it to describe the development of semiconductors, technology that happened on a scale of a nanometer (one-billionth of a meter). You can visualize a nanometer, maybe, if you imagine a wavelength of an X-ray which have one of the shortest wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum; in fact, X-ray wavelengths can reach up to ten nanometers. Or perhaps, imagine viruses and bacteria range in size between five and thirty nanometers in size.

 

If we really look at nanotechnology in actuality, we might realize that it has been practiced for years but we hadn’t yet defined it. When you wonder at the exquisite stained glass windows that we find in European medieval churches, for example, we might not realize that the brilliant colours were made using a form of nanotechnology through the addition of differently-sized gold or silver particles. The builders didn’t know what they were actually doing, only that it worked. Or when a chemist makes a polymer (a long-chain molecule like a protein or a plastic), it is made with the atoms and molecules, but it is done indirectly through chemical reactions.

 

True nanotechnology really did not begin, though, until researchers and engineers were able to actually control matter at the atomic level. That didn’t happen until 1981 with the development of a scanning tunneling microscope. It was that invention that now allowed scientists to “see” and manipulate individual atoms. With this instrument the age of nanotechnology truly began.

 

A scanning tunneling microscope is not like the microscopes that you used in high school to see amoebae and paramecia in a drop of water or a swab of your cheek cells. The developers of the special scope, Gerard Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM Zurich instead created an instrument that does not see the surface but instead senses the surface with a sharp conducting tip that allows the user to distinguish things smaller than 0.1 nanometers thus permitting the imaging and even the manipulation of individual atoms.

 

The scanning tunneling microscope, though impressive, was actually improved upon shortly after its invention. Called the atomic force microscope, it first was developed by Gerard Binnig, Calvin Quate of Stanford University and Christophe Gerber of the University of Basel, Switzerland in 1986. Its improvement of the scanning probe microscope was a marked improvement of the resolution, being able to focus at levels one thousand better than the optical diffraction limit. The optical diffraction limit is a limit of any imaging lens where it becomes impossible to resolve two adjacent objects closer than ƛ /2NM where ƛ is the wavelength of light and NM is the aperture of the lens. In simpler terms, the imaging is limited by the diffraction properties of light. Atomic force microscopes, however, are not limited by this property of light.

 

Instead of light, the scanning electron microscope and its descendant use a quantum physics principle to work, known as quantum tunnelling. Quantum tunneling is a the wavefunction (a basic unit of quantum mechanics) of a quantum phenomenon whereby a particle is able to cross a barrier that according to classical Newtonian physics should be impossible. How is this done? By the application of a charge voltage with the conducting tip of the microscope allows electrons to “tunnel” through the vacuum that separates them; atoms made up of protons, neutrons and electrons, are, in fact, mainly made up of empty space.

 

Still, in spite of the advances of computer circuitry (making them smaller and smaller) and the new microscope inventions, nanotechnology with the public really did not gain traction; few lay people had a clue about nanotechnology. It was K. Eric Drexler, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer, who brought the name to the public with his 1986 landmark book Engines of Creation. Since that initial start, nanotechnology has continued to become a part of mainstream technological developments but the technology was not without his critics at first, including Nobel Prize winner, physicist and astronomer, Richard Smalley. He criticized the work of Drexler, but he, in turn, ironically had a lot to do with the technology’s evolution.

 

According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) of the United States, founded in 1999 to coordinate nanoscale research amongst government agencies and departments, nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with dimensions ranging from one to one-hundred nanometers. It covers a broad number of scientific fields ranging from chemistry (both inorganic and organic), biology, physics, engineering and material sciences.

 

We had the instruments in place to perform nanotechnological feats, but little to show for it until 1985 when Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, discovered fullerenes. A fullerene is a molecule made up of carbon atoms connected to one another by single or double bonds to create a net-like pattern. The product is so versatile that you can  make any shape that you want from it, ranging from a tube, an ellipse or a sphere. Though not initially called nanotechnology, the discovery of fullerenes opened the door to the development of carbon nanotubes also known as buckminsterfullerene or, more simply, bucky tubes, discovered independently by Sumio Iijima and Toshinaro Ichihashi of the Nippon Electronic Center in Japan and D. Bethune et al of IBM Research Division in San Jose in 1993.

 

Carbon nanotubes may sound really boring, but they are now being produced in amounts of several thousand tons per year, being used in a range of industries such as energy storage, vehicular design, sporting goods manufacturing, water filters, electronics just to name a few. It has been proposed that carbon nanotubes be used to build very large objects, entering the realm of today’s science fiction, such as a tether for a space elevator. Kim Stanley Robinson in his Red Mars, describes the creation of just such a space elevator made up of carbon nanotubes.

 

A space elevator is a proposed alternative to space travel, instead of using high-speed rockets. They are so much more efficient than rockets and more importantly, reusable. For a space elevator, a cable called a tether is anchored to the surface of the Earth and extended into space potentially allowing travelers or objects to move out into space and back to Earth again, by passing along this cable. For the Earth such a cable would have to be attached near the equator and held in a geostationary orbit in space at 35,786 kilometers. It remains fixed in place by a balancing of the combined forces of the gravity of the Earth and the outward motion caused by the rotation of the Earth.

 

Nanotechnology uses one of two approaches to achieve its goals. One is the building of materials and devices from their molecular components to create larger end-products using the principles of chemistry. This is known as the “bottom-up” approach. Some examples of this approach include designer chemicals which have a specific shape to enhance or otherwise improve upon a desired chemical reaction. Such a method is often used in a number of materials development. Shape-specificity of chemicals has been used in the binding of metals to remove metallic impurities from an object or to make entirely new materials, the creation of scaffolding for the building of more complex objects such as vaccine delivery systems and even the production of a framework to grow new organs or for the creation of very specific catalysts which speed up chemical processes. Another bottom-up approach is the use of an atomic force microscope that allows the engineer to deposit a chemical on a surface in a specific pattern, also known as nanolithography. Nanolithography is extremely important in the assembly of another technological marvel of our society, in the form of semi-conductor materials, essential to the constantly expansion of computer technology.

 

The “top-down” approach, on the other hand, is where nano-sized objects are constructed out of larger products. One of the most recognizable to us would be the creating of ever smaller microprocessors for computers; now they are capable of the creation of components that are smaller than one-hundred nanometers.

 

There are also giant magnetoresistance hard drives. Giant magnetoresistance seems to be a bit of an odd name for something that has to do with nanotechnology. In spite of its name, it is based on quantum mechanics. It is the phenomenon that is observed when one alternates materials between iron magnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers. Believe it or not this phenomenon does have a use in our everyday lives. It allows the reading of data in a hard disc drive, a biosensor or other electronic storage systems.

 

Another top-down technology is atomic layer deposition which is a method of thin film deposition used in the manufacture of semiconductors. Focused ion beams are used to remove or deposit materials with the aid of an atomic force microscope. The microscope’s tips allows the nanoscale “write head” to deposit and remove material.

 

Advances in computer technology are but one impact that nanotechnology has on our society. However, there is so much more to nanotechnology. If you take atoms and molecules, you can theoretically build anything from the ground up and tailor the final product to very specific designs. With current technology, you can also potentially create machines that are smaller and smaller, reaching the nanometer scale.

 

Clothing in many societies is important for not only making fashion statements but in some cases and unfortunately, aiding in defining the person’s status. Just look at the stained dirty clothes of somebody who has the misfortune of being homeless and one who is a highly successful business person; the clothing is often one of the defining features. Nanotechnology can improve on those fabrics that make up our clothing, and perhaps begin to remove some of the stigma of wearing certain types of clothing. With nanotechnology, we can make clothing that is wrinkle and stain-free, even preventing the growth of bacteria which in turn, would reduce the need for washing. We can even build sensors into the fabric that allows the monitoring your health and even allow for energy generation through your movements.

 

Anyone who wears glasses knows how limiting they are in terms of durability, resistance to glare or even the fact that they tend to fog up when wearing a mask in this age of the pandemic (and possibly future pandemics as well) or coming inside of a warm building from the cold. Some people might state that putting on contact lenses avoids that but still there are limits as lenses can be a medium, if not maintained properly, for bacterial growth which could damage your eyes. Nanotechnology could allow engineers to design all eyewear to avoid all of the shortcomings.

 

How about personal care products? Nanoparticles can be incorporated into a number of products that actually enhance their original performance. Makeup that doesn’t run or the incorporation of such particles of zinc oxides or titanium dioxides into moisturizer, acne cream or lip balm to provide a sunscreen (currently being used in our sunscreens) without using a specific sunscreen.

 

The world is trying to reverse the impact of climate change or at least stabilize it. Unfortunately, the transportation of people-society is not a static state-is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Engineers are trying to improve the efficiency of vehicles and nanotechnology is providing novel options. Nanotechnology can allow for the design of materials to make our automobiles, planes and even spacecraft stronger and lighter which, in turn, would reduce the amount of fuel that is needed. In fact, there is work happening that is using carbon nanotube sheets to create next-generation aircraft.

 

Nano-constructed cars and other craft sound interesting but how about the lubricants and fuels for those vehicles that would further enhance their performance. Nano-bioengineering of enzymes is aiming to convert cellulose, normally a waste product of agriculture and forestry into ethanol fuel. You might say that we are already using cellulose in fuel production, but with nanotechnology, we can further improve its efficiency. With nanoengineering, we can also create tires that have less resistance on the road, reducing fuel use and also tires that enhance friction when needed on an icy winter road as well as higher level sensors to improve performance of the vehicle not to mention providing a cleaner exhaust.

 

Even the network of transportation can be rendered safer and more efficient through the use of nanotechnology. Nanoscale sensors could be embedded into bridges, tunnels, parking garages and pavement to determine when areas have to be fixed or replaced rather than waiting for a disaster or relying on the “eye” of the engineer.

 

Healthcare and medical applications are where nanotechnology will really shine. Research is ongoing to develop particles that can deliver medicines directly to cancer cells rather than the current broad-stroke chemotherapy which also kills healthy tissue. Other companies are looking at having nanoparticles target areas of the body with antibiotics and antiviral medication. Patches embedded with nanoparticles have been developed to lessen pain in the wearer.

 

Nanoengineering can also provide better imaging to allow for earlier diagnosis of potentially life-threatening conditions. There is a technology that is currently being looked at as an option for not only the diagnosis of atherosclerosis but also a treatment; currently the disease is uncurable and sufferers can only hope to delay its impacts. In one technique, scientists were able to create a nanoparticle that is a mimic of “good” cholesterol which assists in the shrinking of plaque buildup.

 

Nanopore materials could also be designed to allow for new gene sequencing technologies with minimal preparation and instrumentation. Currently gold nanoparticles are being looked at to act as probes to target specific nucleic acids making up DNA and RNA.

 

Options for regenerating technologies are being explored. For example, new materials are being engineered that may one day replace the crystalline structure of bones and even for dental applications. Researchers are also looking for ways to grow other complex tissues on nanoengineered scaffolds, hopefully ready for transplant.

 

How about those vaccines without the worry of a needle? Researchers are looking at the possibility of creating a universal influenza vaccine through the creation of a vaccine scaffold built using nanotechnology so that rather than the annual shot, one injection of this vaccine would protect against a broad spectrum of potential influenza strains

 

A nanotech start-up company is looking at creating magnetic diagnostic equipment using superparamagnetic nano-particles. Superparamagnetism is a special type of magnetism which works at the nanoscales involving the interactions between ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic particles; at this level, magnetisms can be flipped with temperature change rather than an electric charge which is required at the macroscopic level.

 

Nanotechnology has applications in energy production as well. With the technology scientists are able to look at creating cleaner, more affordable and even renewable energy sources. For example, they are creating catalysts to enhance chemical reactions can enhance fossil fuel production (thereby lessening pollution).

 

The fossil fuel industry certainly has its critics but even the renewable sources such as solar power also has its critics usually as a result of the unsightliness and the bulkiness of the technology. Nanocones are being developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee that increase the energy efficiency and size of each solar cell. The manufacture of these enhanced solar cells is also cheaper since, instead of actual solar panels, the manufacturing is done by creating flexible rolls of material.

 

Windmills and wind turbines also have their detractors. A material made of carbon nanotubes is now being used to make the blades stronger, longer and lighter-weight making the production of electricity more efficient.

 

Nanotechnology is being looked at as an opportunity to improve our electricity grid.  There is research into the development of wires using carbon nanotubes which have a lesser resistance that the high tension wires we see dotting the landscape which are unsightly and dangerous in themselves. Taking these electricity pathways out of service would further reduce the vulnerability of the electricity grid to terrorism and extreme weather events, while at the same time increasing the efficiency of electricity transmission.

 

Batteries are used in almost every facet of technology, being important as portable energy storage units. Their limiting properties are their lifespan and the problem of the disposal of the highly toxic materials after the battery dies. Batteries are being designed using nanotechnology that are more efficient, lighter weight and hold an electrical charge longer again reducing waste and inefficiency.

 

How about that smart house of the future? Nanotechnology is not far behind. It is being used in the design of more efficient lighting systems, thus lowering energy consumption. In fact, nano-sized sensors are being developed to be incorporated into window glass so that light intensity in a room will be adjusted automatically by the “smart” coating put into the glass material.

 

How about creating an entire system of using much of the waste energy that is produced by modern technology, whether it be the heat from your computer, home, car or even you? This is possible using nanotechnology to develop panels that can be placed into your computer-carrying case, windows, car interior or your clothing even, to convert this waste heat into usable electrical power.

 

Currently drinking water contains materials that are not removed by the technologies provided by our water treatment plants. There is a study that shows that we consume between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles a year. The drugs of humanity such as antibiotics, hormones, psychiatric drugs, heart medication, cancer medication are also found in our drinking water. Those drugs were never prescribed for everybody yet we all consume them and the effects of long-term exposure are only now being studied. With advances in nanotechnology we will be able to provide a rapid detection and treatment of such water impurities.

 

Even though the planet is covered in water, we cannot consume a lot of what we see because we can’t drink saltwater as an alternative to fresh water. There are nanoparticle filters made of molybdenum disulphide that will filter saltwater to render it drinkable.

 

If you draw water from a well, there is always the potential for contamination of the source aquifer. Yes, there are treatment systems that are available but they rely on either chlorine or ultraviolet light; each system has their limitations though. By adding nanoparticles to ground water we have the potential to create reactions to render any contaminants in the water table inert or harmless.

 

Nanotechnology can purify the water that we drink but it can also provide protection at the source. One of the biggest environmental disasters is an oil spill into a waterway. We only have to look at the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989 and to the British Petroleum Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 to see what impact these catastrophes have on the ecosystem, economy and health. There has been the development of a form of nanofabric that acts like a paper towel that is made up of tiny wires of potassium manganese oxide which can absorb twenty times its weight in oil. Researchers have also injected magnetic water-repellant nanoparticles into oil spills and then used magnets to remove oil from the water. Nanotechnology can even play a role in the prevention of such horrific oil spills. With nanotechnology, companies will be able to, with nanoparticles, be able to detect and then correct oil pipeline fractures. 

 

Air can also be purified with nanotechnology. Air filters including those we put into airplanes are made with nanoparticles that trap all particles larger than the pores in the filter. There is an air treatment that might prove useful in fighting COVID-19. Researchers in Israel have developed an air filter based on graphene filters, that also self-sterilizes while decontaminating the air by removing viruses and bacteria. On a larger scale of air purification, carbon nanotube scrubbers are being looked at to separate the climate-changing carbon dioxide from the exhaust of manufacturing plants.

 

Nanotechnology may have a role to play in food production as well. We have currently the controversy of genetic engineering to modify plants and animals that serve as our source of food. The controversy won’t go away, but nanotechnology offers the opportunity to make that engineering more efficient. Nanotechnology itself can be used to enhance flavours, textures and even protect foods from decay. They can even be used to control the use of water and pesticides on our crops, which much like proposed nano-treatments of cancers in people, delivering targeted nutrients and pesticides in appropriate amounts in controlled time frames.

 

Nanotechnology will have a huge impact on our science and technology but what about other aspects of society? Nanotechnology has a potential impact on our arts as well; it is known as nanoart. There has been a nano-movie that has been made, called A Boy and His Atom. It is a one minute stop-motion animated film made by IBM Research in 2012 using a scanning tunnel microscope. The movie is about a boy and an atom that meet and become friends.

 

Nanotechnology has also invaded the world of literature. Though not a classic, Teeny Ted from Turnip Town is a 2007 book that was made using a gallium-ion beam with a diameter of  around seven nanometers. The book contains thirty pages and was published with an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) number.

 

We can see that nanotechnology is having and will have an enormous impact on the future of our sciences and technology, but there is a dark side. Currently, there are studies that indicate that nanoparticles inhaled may have an impact on people breathing in such material much like the breathing in of asbestos fibres into the lungs causing a type of cancer known as mesothelioma . Breathing of nanoparticles can result in stress on the respiratory tract and even have mutagenic effects. Further research is needed in this aspect of nanotechnology as we continue moving forward with its development.

 

Some science fiction writers incorporate nanotechnology as being almost ubiquitous in its application, into their futuristic societies. Perhaps one of the best is Neal Stephenson’s Diamond Age. It is set in a futuristic world where nanotechnology is an everyday part of life including manufacturing, warfare and even self-assembling islands. Greg Bear’s Queen of Angels also features nanotechnology as being ubiquitous. In fact, it has been incorporated into mental health treatments resulting in a class differentiation of society. William Gibson, founder of the cyberpunk genre of literature, creates in his Bridge trilogy a futuristic cyberpunk dystopian society. It takes place in a Tokyo not much different from today’s city in its appearance but with a significant nanotechnological presence. Kathleen Goonan, in her first novel, Queen City Jazz, is set in a dystopian future world where the world has been transformed by a plague of nanotechnology. The Dervish House by Ian McDonald, the reader is taken to 21st century Turkey. Turkey has become the cornerstone of the European Union; nanotechnology takes place in almost every facet of society. Counting Heads by David Marusek describes a future society where mass production and consumption are gone. Permeating every aspect of life, called a Boutique Economy, are nanobots who increase human lifespans to centuries and robots do all of the work in society. Sounds like a utopia, or is it?  Author Linda Nagata has created a four-book series, really made up of novels, Tech-Heaven, The Bohr Maker, Deception Well and Vast collectively known as The Nanotech Succession. The series, though standalone novels begins with the impact on society of nanotechnology in the near future and stretching far into the future. Nanodreams edited by Elton Elliott is a set of short stories by a number of great science fiction writers writing about nanotechnology and its impact on society.

 

What about the impact of nanotechnology on how we fight wars? There is work happening to develop nano-weapons ranging from nanobots (nano-sized robots) to nano-drones to miniature nuclear explosives and super-materials for both protection and deployment, impervious to almost anything we can throw at it. Where there is technology, the engineers of war are never far behind. C. J. Cherryh wrote the Gene Wars series which involves two novels, Hammerfall and Forge of Heaven. The stories describe genetic manipulation through the use of nanotechnology. Metaplanetary by Tony Daniels describes the human race having conquered the Solar System, but it comes at a cost. The Met that connects the worlds with a living network of cables is supported by the repression and enslavement of nanotechnological intelligences that are declared non-human. The repression eventually results in an interplanetary civil war.

 

Then there are some authors that described nanotechnology in our distant futures. Greg Egan’s Diaspora takes place in a futuristic world where humanity has been split into different evolutionary pathways. There are the polises who are those who have adopted immortality in the form of uploaded conscious software, others are the gleisners who are those who replace themselves with humanoid robotic bodies when needed and there are the fleshers who are genetically enhanced humans. The story moves around a search for an illusive race of Transmuters who are said to have the power to reshape subatomic particles and cross into the larger universe of which our Universe is seen as nothing but a speck amongst many. Accelerando by Charles Stross follows the fortunes of a family as society evolves into the Technological Singularity; humans are all but extinct as the story unfolds. As the society is evolving around the family, we see further developments of nanotechnologies.

 

What about making humans into nanomachines? That is what happens in Isaac Asimov’s novelization of the movie of the same name, Fantastic Voyage. It follows a group of explorers and their submarine that are shrunk down to the “size of a microbe” to enable them to enter a person’s blood vessels and save his life by destroying a blood clot in his brain. The science is somewhat flawed, though the story is compelling. If a mass the size of a human were shrunk down to the size of a “microbe,” the density of the person would become impossibly enormous (Density=Mass/Volume).  Asimov tried to correct some of the science with a sequel in Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain. Kevin Anderson took the concept to the next level in his Fantastic Voyage: Microcosm, about a ‘fantastic voyage’ into an alien body.

 

If we were able to create nanobots and make them self-replicating, we will have moved to a new stage of nanotechnology, one with enormous potential and also possibly fraught with danger. Drexler called the tiny machines assemblers whose working components would be atoms. They could do literally everything, scraping the cholesterol in hardened arteries throughout your life, destroy the plaques that cloud the brain of an Alzheimer’s victim, perform brain surgery on individuals, destroy tumour cells before they have the chance to replicate, removing clots before they result in tissue destruction, be involved in food manufacturing and even in mining. It truly would be a self-sustaining system with little need for oversight.

 

The first detailed look at the concept of a self-replicating machine was formulated by mathematician John von Neumann between 1948 and 1949 in a series of lectures. He developed the idea as a thought experiment that saw a machine developing another machine using the raw materials around it. In 1949, he forecast that the self-replicating machines could begin to “evolve” in complexity following the pathway of evolution in biological forms.

 

The dark side of these tireless workers, though, is that assemblers, being capable of self-replication, could get out of control, self-replicating until all resources are gone. Their numbers would increase exponentially. If it takes fifteen minutes to replicate once, much like a bacterial culture starting to replicate uncontrolled, in ten hours you would have sixty-eight billion. In three days, they would be out-massing our entire Solar System; bacterial cultures are kept in check by the forces of Nature that keep all living creatures in check.

 

What if something went wrong with this self-replication of atomic-sized machines? Drexler predicted a potential for the cleaning up of an oil spill using nanobots, which is a good thing. However, what if, for example, the nanobots that are released into an oil spill that due to a programming error, continue to replicate without an end, consuming not just the oil but also all carbon-based objects.

 

One thing that we have to remember is that though fast, a self-replicating machine would still restrained by the constraints of the laws of physics specifically the limiting effects that heat production as defined by the laws of thermodynamics. Initially the laws were designed to explain the workings of steam engines, which were the top-of-the-line technology at the time of their development in 1824, by French mechanical engineer, Sadi Carnot in his book Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire. The laws of thermodynamics have stood the test of time and are likely the most enduring laws of physics ever devised. The second law of the three laws of thermodynamics prevails in the workings of engines. What the second law tells us is that all engines, including nanomachines can never be one hundred percent efficient and that there will always be some loss of energy. No system therefore can continue to infinity. As machines get more complicated, the slower their reproduction. We may have an out.

 

Science fiction with nanotechnology and its science fiction predecessor, microtechnology has often been a precautionary tale. It is a useful technology but beware of it running amok. There were some earlier precursors to nanotechnology as authors imagined smaller and smaller technology; several did not reach the true nanoscale but did at least reach the micrometer stage. One of the earliest is by Russian author Boris Zhitkov who wrote in 1931 the short story, "Microhands" about a man who makes a pair of microscopic remote manipulators. He uses the technology for good, to assist in eye surgery. As he continues to develop smaller manipulators using his first pair, he finds that the smaller that he goes, the behavior of the materials changes as he reaches further into the microscopic realm.

 

Arthur C. Clarke wrote the 1956 short story, "The Next Tenants," about a mad scientist living on a remote island in the Pacific. The scientist believes in the doom of civilization due to the human condition and feels obliged to set the stage for the best inheritor of the planet, termites. He begins training termites in the use of technology, technology on a micrometer scale, so again, small, but not quite there with respect to nanoscale.

 

Stanislaw Lem wrote several novels about micromechanical devices. In his 1959 Eden, such small devices grow to encase a human spaceship in a wall. In his 1964 The Invincible, an entire planet with evolving miniature machines is described; again they are not true nanotechnical devices but are small insect-like robots. In 1984, Lem shrunk his machines to the size of small bacteria in Peace on Earth appearing as nothing more than dust. The machines were originally developed by artificial intelligence that was placed on the Moon during the Cold War as part of a treaty that required that all weapons production and development be handled by automated factories on the Moon. The machines later come to the Earth, continuing to replicate, destroying all weapons and modern technology but leaving living organisms since there are no living things on the Moon.

 

Rudy Rucker in Postsingular, writes that nanobots devour the Earth and in turn, makes copies of everything that they eat as a simulation. Luckily for humanity, the machine designers created an option to reverse the destruction. Prey, by Michael Crichton, is another warning about science running amok. In the novel, nanobots are being made at an isolated desert laboratory, that through an accident, are released into the surrounding environment. Powered by the Sun the machines continue to reproduce and follow their programming, to act as predatory swarms. Moonseed by Stephen Baxter looks at an alternate history of the Apollo 18 mission (Apollo 18 was a planned mission by NASA but was nixed officially due to budgetary considerations). The astronauts bring back to Earth a substance called a moonseed, a form of grey goo (it is never really stated but the substance could be a virus or machine or something else entirely) that begins to change all inorganic material on the Earth into more moonseed. Blood Music by Greg Bear that started as a short story before being rewritten as a full-length novel, a biotechnologist creates simple biological computers based on his own lymphocytes. He is told by his employer to destroy his invention, but instead he injects himself with the tiny machines. There they evolve altering their own genetic profile and soon become self-aware.

 

Bloom by Will McCarthy takes the concept of the self-replication nanomachines off the planet Earth to space. In fact, in the novel, Earth and all of the inner planets of the Solar System are engulfed by self-replicating assemblers. Humanity ekes out an existence in the Asteroid Belt and the Galilean moons. In Kevin Anderson and Doug Beason’s Assemblers of Infinity, an alien artifact is discovered that is being built is found on the Moon’s dark side. No alien construction workers are at the worksite though, only nanomachines that are not only intelligent but voracious, consuming everything that they touch.

 

What if nanotechnology of today were to be used by terrorist organizations? Thriller writer Robert Ludlum, in his novel, The Lazarus Vendetta, written by Patrick Larkin, features nanotechnology as well. In the story, an environmental group has been taken over by a scientist who has alternate visions of the way that the world should be. An attack by the Lazarus Movement on a biotechnology laboratory releases nano-phages that cause anyone

unlucky enough to breathe them in is turned into a reddish liquid sludge.  In another thriller with a nanotech edge is Robin Cook’s Nano about a medical technology firm that creates nanorobots that actually eat microbes that invade our bodies.

 

Nanotechnology like most new technologies has a potential to make an exponential growth in the quality of life in our society, impacting all aspect of our lives from health, food production, computer science and right down to even the arts. Like most technologies, though, and science fiction writers have been leaders in this area, is that we must remain ever-vigilant to its potentials, not only for the betterment of society but for its pratfalls that have the latent possibility to destroy us.

 

 

References

 

 



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