Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1986 - Science - 298 pages
In this original book about the consequences of new technologies, Drexler takes the reader through exhilarating new discoveries and the promise of those around the corner. Beginning with the insight that what we can do depends on what we can build, Drexler analyzes nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules. He makes a plausible case for expecting technological developments in artificial intelligence and molecular engineering that will result in tiny mechanisms being controlled by microscopic powerful thinking computers. He also explains how the new alternatives could be directed toward vital human concerns -- wealth or poverty, health or sickness, peace or war. ISBN 0-385-19972-4: $17.95.

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Contents

Engines of Construction
3
The Principles of Change
21
Predicting and Projecting
39
Copyright

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About the author (1986)

K. Eric Drexler is an American engineer best known as the founding father of nanotechnology. Drexler popularized the potential of molecular nanotechnology during his years of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned three degrees from MIT; a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Sciences, an M.S. in Astro/Aerospace Engineering, and a Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab. His thesis on molecular nanotechnology, the first doctoral degree on the topic, was published as Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation (1992). The book received the Association of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992. He currently resides in Oxford.

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