Read of the Week

For those who envision nanotechnology as the tonic to the endgame of the gridlocked lifestyle and the beginning of hovering with the Jetson's, Wil McCarthy's Hacking Matter, exists as the reality between the line of science fiction and technology. McCarthy clearly defines the subtle nuances between the results of successful experimentation in the laboratory and the processes ready for application in private industry.

As programmable matter remains the key buzzword in the minuscule world of the electron, the practical issues that plague the realm of science are apparent in nanotechnology. Though theoretical technology borders on magic, the laws of thermodynamics and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle compromise the current grasp of technological relevance. Strides continue to be made in ocular technologies and increased memory of processors, however the dreams of a space tower composed of buckytubes or smart nano-bots protecting the body as sentinels against age and disease remain appropriate for the great fictional writers of our time.

Interestingly, McCarthy reveals the current dissension towards capitalism propagated by the fantasy world of the graduate university environment. The average cutting edge PHD possesses no ambition to formulate a standard business model for the industrial use of discoveries made in the laboratory. In a display of pure ideological doublethink with strong hints of socialism, a number of beneficial and marketable technologies are left stuck on hard drives, thanks to an unhealthy ideal towards pure research and data. Not surprisingly, these same individuals receive considerable pieces of the almost 500 million dollar grant pie per year (first approved by Bill Clinton in 2001) allocated by the federal government to the continued research in a nepionic field. The wondrous brand of amiability embraced by academia is at least well funded.


However, McCarthy seems to display a balanced perspective of the general role that tomorrow plays in society.

By profession I'm an engineer, a science fiction writer, and a journalist. All three have in common an obsession towards the future, so extrapolating the scientific trends into future technologies - while imagining and transcribing the results - is both my job and my main amusement.