From: Alan Patrick (a.patrick@btinternet.com)
Date: Wed 17 Dec 2003 - 15:02:51 GMT
> >Drexler's problem is that he hasn't really done anything new since 1992,
so
> >he's leaving himself open to new players.
>
> That's not actually true. Eric and related people like Ralph Merkle did a
> lot of molecular design work post 1992.
OK, more accurately Drexler *was* nanotech back in 1992, now he's one among
a burgeoning number. Memetically I think that it's the darwinian expansion
and acclimatisation of the nano-meme that we are seeing. Sad for Drexler,
he's been a good Wooly Mammoth, but new subspecies are emerging that feed
better on the funding tundra. Some of them are carnivorous - its a meme eat
meme world out there....
> I am not sure any government that understands molecular scale
> nanotechnology is going to want to develop it if they are not forced.
How come? I think most people who understand realise this stuff is quite
powerful. The issue is, I think, how much funding is for short term v long
term benefit - and in a downwave its very unusual for an long term R&D to
prosper wildly..
> That said, I expect a hot bed of
> development to be in eastern Europe from the number of papers and
> conferences that started coming out of that area some years ago. The
major
> expense in nanotechnology is people, and you can get them for far less
there.
Or India, or China....but I think access to brainpower clusters is also key
and thats where the great 1st world university towns score. There's a PhD on
meme breeding grounds in that issue somewhere....
Alan
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