Even if you do not like the book, you have to marvel at the abilities of Tolkein. He invented an entire mythology from the beginning of time, created an entire continent for his stories, invented multiple languages (with grammatical rules and even short dictionaries), and presented the common view of elves and dwarves (that's Tolkien's classical spelling too, the plural is really dwarfs, look it up) that we have today. His stories, though written separately (I am speaking of all his works) all work together and intertwine to bring about the magnum opus that is Middle Earth. Almost every fantasy author since Tolkien has utilized some or all of his style and work. IMHO, for all these reasons, he is the most accomplished fantasy writer ever.
IBM simply bought out 70-something % of the stock (source: ZDTV News), so its not a complete buyout, but they completely control the company since they have over 50% of the stock. IBM has future plans to fully integrate the company later, and to start selling their products too. They still have a little while to go, though before they trully own the company.
The analogy does not quite work. When you buy software, you are actually buying the liscense to use it, not the code itself. It is still owned by the company. You know that annoying little user liscense you click through every time, well that is a legal binding that you _agree_ not to do that in exchange for the right to use the software. It is the consumer who agrees not to reverse engineer.
Nanites will most likely operate like enzymes, at least in theory. They will be mechanical, but they will contain no programming logic. They will be driven by interacting with normal molecules, say a fatty acid in a blood clot, and using bonding energies and forces and perhaps using molecular gears, will be able to manipulate, i.e. destroy the clots. There will be no need for programming, the nanites by design will operate themselves due to their structure.
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Even if you do not like the book, you have to marvel at the abilities of Tolkein. He invented an entire mythology from the beginning of time, created an entire continent for his stories, invented multiple languages (with grammatical rules and even short dictionaries), and presented the common view of elves and dwarves (that's Tolkien's classical spelling too, the plural is really dwarfs, look it up) that we have today. His stories, though written separately (I am speaking of all his works) all work together and intertwine to bring about the magnum opus that is Middle Earth. Almost every fantasy author since Tolkien has utilized some or all of his style and work. IMHO, for all these reasons, he is the most accomplished fantasy writer ever.
IBM simply bought out 70-something % of the stock (source: ZDTV News), so its not a complete buyout, but they completely control the company since they have over 50% of the stock. IBM has future plans to fully integrate the company later, and to start selling their products too. They still have a little while to go, though before they trully own the company.
The analogy does not quite work. When you buy software, you are actually buying the liscense to use it, not the code itself. It is still owned by the company. You know that annoying little user liscense you click through every time, well that is a legal binding that you _agree_ not to do that in exchange for the right to use the software. It is the consumer who agrees not to reverse engineer.
Nanites will most likely operate like enzymes, at least in theory. They will be mechanical, but they will contain no programming logic. They will be driven by interacting with normal molecules, say a fatty acid in a blood clot, and using bonding energies and forces and perhaps using molecular gears, will be able to manipulate, i.e. destroy the clots. There will be no need for programming, the nanites by design will operate themselves due to their structure.