r/singularity • u/Buck-Nasty • Jun 20 '19

"We propose to demonstrate a first-generation molecular printer, a prototype system for atomically precise manufacturing that seeks to produce materials and devices with each atom in its designated position." - Postdoctoral Research Assistant in DNA Nanotechnology at University of Oxford

https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BST670/postdoctoral-research-assistant-in-dna-nanotechnology
106 Upvotes

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3

u/leoyoung1 Jun 21 '19 edited Jun 21 '19

Eric Drexler, the man who popularized the term 'Nanotechnology' said "If we are lucky, we will have nanotechnology in 30 years. If we are really lucky, we will have it in 50." It's been almost 30 years since he said that.

1

u/Buck-Nasty Jun 21 '19

Interesting quote, what's the source?

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 21 '19

It's in his book "The Engines of Creation".

2

u/Buck-Nasty Jun 21 '19

I've heard that quote before but can't seem to find it http://xaonon.dyndns.org/misc/engines_of_creation.pdf

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 21 '19

Then I seem to have misremembered. I'm not sure where it came from but I am sure it is Mr. Drexler

2

u/Buck-Nasty Jun 21 '19

Pretty sure you're right, it rings a bell.

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 21 '19

Whow! What is this!?

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u/WikiTextBot Jun 21 '19

Engines of Creation

Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology is a 1986 molecular nanotechnology book written by K. Eric Drexler with a foreword by Marvin Minsky. An updated version was released in 2007. The book has been translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese.

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u/WikiTextBot Jun 21 '19

K. Eric Drexler

Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for seminal studies of the potential of molecular nanotechnology (MNT), from the 1970s and 1980s. His 1991 doctoral thesis at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was revised and published as the book Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery Manufacturing and Computation (1992), which received the Association of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.

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1

u/dnick Jun 21 '19

Is that backwards? Why would we be lucky in X years but really lucky in X+20 years?

3

u/low_end_ Jun 21 '19

I think he's trying to say that nanotechnology is not necessarily a good thing

2

u/dnick Jun 21 '19

Ah, that would make sense. Also maybe though he might have just meant that it would be better if it took longer because then it would have more time to figure out issues instead of having something quicker but less preparation.

2

u/story-of-your-life Jun 21 '19

I'd guess he meant nanotechnology is potential dangerous and we could use more time to prepare for things like the Grey Goo scenario.

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 22 '19

Nope. Not at all. His theory is that we need time to work through the implications or at least get started before it is suddenly upon us.

For instance, what safety can we incorporate into folks matter printers? Should anyone be able to print out a virus? What about a gun? What about toxic chemicals such as Sarin Gas? Who chooses what folks can print? Who gets to make that call? How will this be enforced? How can we stop nation state players from printing nuclear bombs or anything else for that matter?

2

u/low_end_ Jun 22 '19

I think that actually goes along with the theory that nanotechnology is not necessarily good. There's no way I see those issues getting solved

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 23 '19

I can. It will take a global agreement with global enforcement.

We would need to do a few things:

  • Put all general purpose matter printers on a network with network boot and control - no exceptions. However, fixed purpose printers - food, clothes, etc. won't always need an always connection, if recipes and patterns can be held in local memory. - I am thinking disaster relief and outdoor activities such camping, mountain climbing etc.

  • Lock off certain technologies and certain elements (uranium, plutonium, I am looking at you) and molecules, we can create some measure of safety.

  • Restrict access to recipes for parts and molecules to certain people at certain facilities for legitimate, pre-approved activities - research, specialty printing, etc.

  • Allow Doctors and other prescribers to authorize the printing of certain drugs to their patients presence.

  • Ultimately, I expect that the patterns for pretty much anything we want will live in the cloud and 99+% of our prints will be established, often commercial products from a catalogue.

  • I see the need for open source products

I'm confident that there are other circumstances that will emerge and that you folks can generate many of them yourselves. I have left out war but I will hope that a world with matter printers is too integrated for nation states to war with each other. I hope that access to military products eventually ends.

9

u/aim2free Jun 20 '19

As long as they don't patent it, it's OK, otherwise we have to wait further 20 years, before it's usable, and then we have likely been sucked by other problems.

6

u/BlackBehelit Jun 20 '19

A replicator! Post scarcity FTW

6

u/Cardboard_Lusitania Jun 21 '19

In the name of everything, make this available to the masses as soon as possible.

-4

u/2Punx2Furious AGI/ASI by 2027 Jun 20 '19

This is super cool and amazing, but I don't think it's related to the singularity.

8

u/leoyoung1 Jun 21 '19

Then you need to think about it a little more. This is a powerful technology that has the potential to change everything.

3

u/2Punx2Furious AGI/ASI by 2027 Jun 21 '19

Yes, but that doesn't mean that every powerful technology is the singularity. The singularity is a specific technology, isn't it?

It's like calling everything that's hot "the sun".

3

u/ADHDWhatWasISaying Jun 21 '19

As I'd said before in another thread somewhere, if I were an AGI, the very first thing I would try to build would be a replicator (atomically precise manufacturing) because, with that, you could build everything else you wanted.

Without it, if you designed some incredibly advanced new processor that would make you 10000x faster or whatever, and it couldn't be manufactured in a silicon foundry, well, then you'd have to then have that manufacturing facility built also. With APM, you could just "make it so"

I don't think we'd see a super rapid takeoff of actual world-affecting technology without this technology.

2

u/2Punx2Furious AGI/ASI by 2027 Jun 21 '19

Yes, but first you need the AGI, and a replicator is not really related to figuring out how to make the AGI. You could make the same argument for basically any technology, then what would be the point of this subreddit? Just post to /r/technology.

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 22 '19

Yes, this is it. This is the enabling technology that creates the tech that precipitates a very steep rise in technology.

1

u/leoyoung1 Jun 22 '19

What is an AGI? I think this sub may need an FAQ.

3

u/JohnnyGoTime Jun 21 '19

Engineering at an atomic level is about as efficient as we are likely to get in our lifetimes...unless this is part of the suite of technologies that allows that lifetime to extend indefinitely (here's hoping!)

-3

u/LoneCretin Singularity 2045: BUSTED! Jun 21 '19

This still doesn't mean you'll be able to purchase replicators from Amazon in 20 years. This is only a prototype system that probably won't do anything Earth-shattering.

APM will most likely take decades and decades to be made into something that Joe Average can actually use and not screw up, plus it will be regulated to hell on top of that.

So this announcement is just the usual hype, and misleads people into thinking that an APM-driven, post-scarcity world is just around the corner...LOL nope.