Nano-trains in New Scientist

The Evil Dwarf from Hell writes "New Scientist has a very interesting article on Nano-trains. The researcher built the tracks out of microtubles in cow neurons with the motors of kinesin running on fuel of ATP. " OK, next I need a nano-train that speeds up the flow of my neuropeptides across the synaptic cleft. Then I'm set-or starting on a whole new set of things.

Comments

The usefulness of bottom-up instead of top-down

[Chris Worth]

A basic principle of Drexlerian nanotech is that bottom-up is better than top-down. This nanotrain is a huge achievement, but ultimately it's quite simple - just a few moving parts. And once you've built something simple but foolproof, you can build something a bit more complex on top.... and test it to foolproofness again... and then... it's essentially how life developed, except evolution is somewhat more random.

There's a parallel here with software, of course - open source stuff "grows" bottom-up from hundreds of coders solving real problems, whereas Windows trickled top-down into a thousand pools of problems. For me, this is a more fundamental difference between OSS and CSS than the few coders/many coders difference. If we're to build the incredibly complex machines nanotech will make possible, we have to go the bottom-up route - no question.

Re:MS obsession

[dattaway]

Could it be there really is a problem with Microsoft?

Nah... couldn't be!

nano technology

[dattaway]

A bad round of computer problems got me thinking. Who will be the nano technicians when a batch of self replicating little robots go amok?

It would be great if we had nano robots to help us in our world, such as microsurgery or building houses. However, am I the only one who imagines self sustaining intelligent robots that are short a few lines of code or under the control of someone with less than pure intensions? A bad breed of nasty robots could run unchecked if only a priviliged few had nanotechnology. If technology like this were freely distributed, we would have the means to keep it under control. If it were a trade secret, watch out for nanoviruses!