Nanotech promises increased wealth; more efficient healthcare

By Dick Pelletier

      

    Arthur C. Clarke once said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is virtually indistinguishable from magic." Enter humanity's newest plunge into magic – nanotechnology.

Whether you fear it, welcome it, don't understand it, or think it's too crazy to be true, this most hyped science of all time promises a utopian future with no food shortages or disease, and a world of leisure and indefinite lifespan for everyone on Earth.

To achieve this remarkable future, researchers must first create a tiny microscopic-size nanorobot assembler that can grab individual atoms and organize them into items. Futurists at the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology predict that this first assembler will be developed by 2020.

The next step, experts say, is to build a small machine called a nano-replicator with billions of nanorobots inside that can be instructed to extract atoms from something as plentiful as dirt or seawater, and reassemble those atoms into food, appliances, clothing, or other desired products. Positive futurists believe nano-replicators will be working on kitchen countertops by mid-2020s.

In their book, Revolutionary Wealth, Alvin and Heidi Toffler argue that we are on the verge of a post-scarcity time that will alleviate today's poverty. Futurist Steve Burgess agrees. In an on-line essay, he predicts that by 2025, nano-replicators will launch an extraordinary era of abundance.

Perhaps the boldest application of nanotechnology lies in healthcare. Most sickness, injury and stress can be traced to cellular malfunction. Current medicine does not allow doctors to treat selective cells. Instead, today's medical solutions focus primarily on symptoms that sometimes provide negative side effects. Surgery saves lives, but it also causes trauma. Chemotherapy destroys cancer, but healthy cells often die in the process; and far too often, the cancer returns.

In clinical trials, doctors have injected nanoparticles that seek out cancer cells and destroy them without harming normal cells. Although these particles cannot be programmed like nanorobots, they are a major reason for optimism at the National Cancer Institute, whose former director stated that all deaths from this dreaded disease will be preventable by 2015.

Nanorobots work like tiny surgeons as they flow through damaged bodies making repairs. On command, they can erase wrinkles, eliminate excess fat, strengthen muscles and bone, restore hair, replace missing teeth, erase plaque buildup; even correct failing vision.

Are there downsides to this wonder-tech? Nano-theorist Robert Freitas, in a recent Lifeboat Foundation interview, claims that nanotech could create economic chaos. With products made inexpensively, humans will become pure consumers without need to produce goods. This could eventually reduce the value of human labor to zero.

However in tomorrow's nano-world, forward-thinkers believe there would be little need for money. Nearly all of today's living costs will eventually be eliminated. Even expenses for public projects like roads, buildings, and government activities could be abolished with nano-replicators.

Clearly, the road to our nano-future winds around unknown, possibly even dangerous turns. However, strong commerce and government support promise to drive this revolution forward.

This wonder-tech will improve our lives beyond the wildest dreams. Experts believe that by mid-2020s, nano-replicators will begin raising living standards for the world's poor, and nanorobots will monitor our bodies, prevent disease, and eliminate aging processes in medical centers worldwide.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.