[CrackMonkey] Nanotech explained

[Chris Waters]

On Fri, Feb 09, 2001 at 12:52:24PM -0800, Nick Moffitt wrote:

> For more on nanotech visit your local library and resd the book
> _The_Diamond_Age_ by Neil Stephenson blah blah blind kids poop

Better yet, try Drexler, who coined the term and has written a fair
amount of speculative non-fiction on the topic.

> If they ever figure out nanotech it will either convert our
> society into a near utopia or we will kill ourselves off completely.

Or so say the SF writers, who tend to say that sort of thing about
most new technologies (and are usually wrong, so far).  Anyway, even
in SF, those aren't the only options.  See Greg Bear's _Blood Music_
for a classic nanotech tale with an outcome that is definitely None of
the Above.  (A short version can be found in Bruce Sterling's seminal
collection, _Mirrorshades: the Cyberpunk Anthology_, but _BM_ is not
cyberpunk.)  And implications of nano show up in a lot of Bear's other
books.  Much as I love Stephenson, I was disappointed in _Diamond Age_
because Bear, who's also one of my favs, had already been there and
done that for the most part.

Of course, if you're only semi-literate, or have the attention span of
a hyperactive five-year-old, Stephenson may be easier on your poor
widdwe bwain than Drexler or even Bear.

-- 
Chris Waters      |  Pneumonoultra-        osis is too long
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