Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms [Hardcover]

Wil Mccarthy (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 046504428X | ISBN-13: 978-0465044283 | Publication Date: March 18, 2003

Programmable matter is probably not the next technological revolution, nor even perhaps the one after that. But it's coming, and when it does, it will change our lives as much as any invention ever has. Imagine being able to program matter itself-to change it, with the click of a cursor, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. Supported by companies ranging from Levi Strauss to IBM and the Defense Department, solid-state physicists in laboratories at MIT, Harvard, Sun Microsystems, and elsewhere are currently creating arrays of microscopic devices called "quantum dots" that are capable of acting like programmable atoms. They can be configured electronically to replicate the properties of any known atom and then can be changed, as fast as an electrical signal can travel, to have the properties of a different atom. Soon it will be possible not only to engineer into solid matter such unnatural properties as variable magnetism, programmable flavors, or centuple bonds far stronger than diamond, but also to change these properties at will. Wil McCarthy visits the laboratories and talks with the researchers who are developing this extraordinary technology; describes how they are learning to control its electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties; and tells us where all this will lead. The possibilities are truly magical.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1962, Arthur C. Clarke offered three laws of technological development, the last of which reads: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Expanding on an article he wrote for Wired, McCarthy uses Clarke's law as a jumping-off point for a grand tour of cutting-edge "quantum dot" research, a field that seems like nothing so much as alchemy, 21st-century style. Quantum dots are tiny pieces of semiconductor that can trap electrons, with a remarkable consequence: "the electrons trapped in a quantum dot will arrange themselves as though they were part of an atom, even through there's no atomic nucleus for them to surround." The result is an artificial atom, maybe 50 times larger than a natural one, that can simulate the properties of any element on the periodic table by catching or releasing additional electrons. McCarthy offers an extensive survey of both the science behind such "programmable matter" and the scientists developing it, reveling in applications as far-ranging as walls that light a room with their own radiant glow, cars that levitate along magnetic streets, and TV screens that "look less like a moving picture and more like a window into a real, three-dimensional space." The author, an engineer as well as a writer, is a part of the story himself, holding a patent for an application of quantum dots that he calls "wellstone" (his patent application is included as an appendix), and he makes an informative but at times technically dense case for the promising, even magical, potential of programmable atoms.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

McCarthy, perhaps best known for his science fiction (see the review of his latest novel on p.1286), turns his attention to a real-life scientific revolution somewhere in our future. Eventually, he predicts, matter will be made programmable--easily changed from hard to soft, for instance-- by "quantum dots." Readers who are barely on nodding terms with Einstein need not be deterred. McCarthy employs a soothing narrative manner that draws readers into the story; even when the science gets tough to digest, there's enough "fiction"--freewheeling speculation--to keep you going. As an engineer, sf writer, and journalist, McCarthy says he has an "obsession with the future." That's what allows him to take the quantum-dot theory and run with it, extrapolating how these very tiny dots will change the ways homes use heat and light, make Jetson-style transportation possible, and even bring about the development of new colors. Throughout, McCarthy describes the phenomenon of programmable matter as a kind of magic. His knack for describing it is magical in itself. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (March 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 046504428X
• ISBN-13: 978-0465044283
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,937 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A focused yet wandering introduction to quantum materials, June 29, 2003

By 

Richard Soderberg "floating atoll" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms (Hardcover)

I purchased this book for the title alone, while shelf-browsing at ETcon 2003; to see a non-fiction book discussing programmable matter on the cover was enough to catch my attention.

I found it a casual, yet enjoyable read; it threads gently through the prerequisite background, glossing over the specific details to keep the primary focus of the book intact; as it turned out, this didn't affect my enjoyment at all, while providing lots of jumping-off points for the interested observer to research further.

Managing to not get distracted by the fact that such things as "electron shells" and "thermochromatics", it introduces the reader (educated as they may or may not be) to the concept of a kind of material whose properties can be changed at will, by humans (not just nature). The core concept at hand is "quantum dots", and the text returns over and over again to this, diverging occasionally to provide anecdotes, or ways these semi-magical materials have already been (or soon, could be) used.

Overall, I felt the book a good read; if you're looking for an introduction into the world of quantum dots, dynamically modifiable materials, and science the likes of which one would formerly have expected from science fiction. It's not a book in which can be found explicit technical details, though there's more than a hundred references in the end-of-book bibliography; for that alone, it would be a perfect entry point for research.

Highly recommended.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're interested, January 1, 2006

By 

PJJ "PJJ" (Atlanta, Ga) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms (Paperback)

You can also download this book free at
http://www.wilmccarthy.com/HackingMatterMultimediaEdition.pdf

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating overview of research and possible applications, April 21, 2003

By 

William T. Katz (Ashburn, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms (Hardcover)

"Hacking Matter" deserves 4-5 stars for addressing a very interesting topic - artificial atoms - and 3-4 stars for its presentation. The book can be divided into two parts. The first section, about 110 of the book's 200 pages, gives us a tour of actual research in solid-state physics and its implications for material science. The second launches us from real developments to speculative devices and applications. McCarthy tries to focus the book on programmable matter and only touches on other aspects of nanotechnology. I think that's a great idea, but it should have afforded him the opportunity for deeper explanations of research and ideas that were only briefly described.

McCarthy is facile with language, as might be expected from a writer of fiction. But while the reading flows easily, the first section suffers from an uneven handling of the material. For example, McCarthy delays the discussion of atomic orbitals until the middle of the book, and even then it's a watered-down introduction with the reader directed to a freshman chemistry textbook for more information. Given the complexity of the topic, I felt he should have assumed a certain level of reader compentency, start with a more detailed review of the atom with better diagrams of orbitals and material characteristics, then build from there and drop the "monkey on limbs" analogy. In contrast to some areas of hand-holding explanation, some quotes from physicists, given without further explanation, assume a certain level of sophistication from readers:

"In general, high temperatures tend to equal more interactions, because there are a lot more blackbody photons emitted from hot surfaces, which can then be absorbed and destroy atomic superpositions. But photon-photon interactions have such a low cross section you don't have to worry about it for optical quantum states. A photon that's in a quantum superposition is therefore going to be a lot more stable at room temperature." (p. 71)

Perhaps it's praise to McCarthy that I wanted more of the first 100 pages -- like a thorough introduction to atoms and how material properties arise, side-by-side diagrams of natural and artificial atoms in terms of scale, electron density plots, more details on the research, etc. It's fascinating stuff and there are references at the end of the book.

The speculative portion of the book, although it occasionally veers from the focus on programmable matter, is well-written and thought-provoking. McCarthy notes that the interviewed researchers are reluctant to speculate, and he steps into that void and presents some possibilities. One chapter describes a hypothetical construct for handling an array of quantum of dots: a "Wellstone Fiber" invented and submitted for a patent by McCarthy and his partner.

Back in the late 80s, K. Eric Drexler, referenced at least twice in "Hacking Matter," used his book "Engines of Creation" to speculate on possible directions for nanotechnology, well ahead of actual technical developments. While some of Drexler's ideas may not be realistic, he did galvanize interest in the subject. I can't help but think McCarthy is trying to play that role for artificial atoms and the funding of condensed matter physics research. For those of us who don't think that much about material science, this book provides a good wake-up call in the form of an entertaining read.