Slashdot Mirror
Programmable Matter: The New Alchemy
Anonymous Kamath writes "IEEE Spectrum recently published an interview with aerospace-engineer-turned-science-fiction-author Wil McCarthy who's just written his first non-fiction book "Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable
Atoms" proposing the application of quantum dot technology on a large scale
thereby allowing one to control properties of materials at will. Another science fiction author laid down the principles of geostationary satellite communication
half a century ago."
It's quite interesting. McCarthy tells a good story, and in the tradition of good science writing, introduces us to the interesting cast of characters that is working on this stuff.
That said, the book has more of a 'fiction' and less of a 'science' feel to it overall. This is a science in its very early stages and much of the theorizing McCarthy does comes off more as wishful thinking than anything that the data backs up. To his credit, McCarthy points this out and tries to be careful to let you know what's fact and what's speculation.
Overall it's a pretty interesting book though. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys popular-science writing (in the vain of Gleick or Greene) and doesn't mind a little wild speculation thrown in.
For those of you who are interested in the applications for computing, he talks a very little bit about the possibilities in quantum computing that this opens up, but he actually explicitly states that he's not particularly interested in it. As such, most of the book is about matter that can change it's chemical properties and the more material science applications for it.
Ohh, and the last section of the book (actually and appendix) is all about the patent he filed for a device he came up with over the course of writing the book called a quantum well. It makes me a little nervous when someone's already trying to patent stuff that isn't realizable for years and years. Not a call to arms, but something to think about.
I am actually Jonathan Vos Post, former Professor of Astronomy, Active Member of Science Fiction Writers of America, and software geek for 37 years (since 1966). I am extremely impressed by both the fiction and nonfiction on this subject by Wil McCarthy.
It happens that, as a side-effect of my writing perhaps the first Nanotechnology Ph.D. dissertation ("Molecular Cybernetics", 1977), I coined the terms of "programmable matter" and of "smart matter" by 1980. I used these terms in discussions I had with CS Professor/Science Fiction author Vernor Vinge, when the vingemiester was writing "Fire Upon the Deep."
I'm delighted that Wil McCarthy has taken the subject further, in his article in "Analog", his IEEE publication, and his wonderful novels.
He's such a good "hard Science Fiction" author that I feel a serious twinge of jealousy when I read him, same as I do for Sir Arthur C. Clarke, David Brin, Greg Benford, and a handfull of others.
Go you: read, and be enlightened.
Jonathan Vos Post
magicdragon.com
over 10,000,000 hits in 2002 alone
Can anyone here confirm or deny this?
Happy people make bad consumers.
In the great CONS chain of life, you can either be the CAR or be in the CDR.
No, Greg Bear's idea from Moving Mars was not the same as the idea as McCarthy is talking about. In Bear's work, the concept was that all atoms had certain variables that described them and that those variables (including location relative to the rest of the universe) could be altered.
If you'd take the time to read the article, what McCarthy is writing about is a quantum dot -- a atom-sized well that can have particles pumped into it, specifically, electrons. Drop in three electrons, and they'll take up an orbit around the empty center of the quantum dot, and you have a dot that behaves with the properties of lithium.
For a better explanation, sit down and read his first novel on the subject, The Collapsium...it stands on its own quite nicely. You may opt to skip The Wellstone, which isn't as good a book, and would probably need to be propped up by the first.
blog |
Well if it's years off, the patent will have expired by then - and the Patent Office will have no choice but see the prior art when somebody gets around to trying to patent it again.
That is only true if the practical applications are at least 20 years after the date of filing, something that you cannot be certain of (though the well documented chilling effects of patents on innovation would lead one to expect that this might indeed become the case, as a direct result of the issuence of this patent).
It is appalling that someone can think of a speculative idea and patent it, then wait for someone to actually do the hard work of inventing a useful product before gouging them for royalties. Not only is there no incentive for anyone other than the arm-chair patent holder to develop this idea (and even were he qualified to do so, he is but one person), there is actually disincentive to do so, as the end result of the toil necessary to create such a remarkable device will be a lawsuit from a science fiction author in the peanut gallar.
The previous poster said this "wasn't a call to arms." Well, it damn well should be. Unfortunately we have cultivated apathy to a high art, and appear unable to move ourselves out of that helpless state of mind even when things like this (not to mention software patents, which threaten innovation and free software for all of us) repeatedly kick us all directly in the face.
Our masters, in conditioning us to be compliant and uninvolved, untroublesome, quiet consumers have done their work well...to the profound detriment of us all.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
One of the things he talks about is how the virtual atoms can only exist right on top of the silicon substrate... Why can't the "atoms" that you are creating resemble more silicon substrate, complete with wires and all that it needs to function, and then sitting on top of that is yeat another virtual layer, ad nauseum until you create wahtever you want. All you would need is a little chip of "seed" substrate and you could "replicate" stuff... It wouldn't exist as soon as the power shuts off, but it would seem to exist until that point, right? So pseudo replication.