Nanofuture: What's Next For Nanotechnology [Hardcover]

J. Storrs Hall (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 6, 2005

Flying cars, space travel for everyone, the elimination of poverty and hunger, and powerful new tools to combat disease, and even aging. These are some of the amazing predicted developments of nanotechnology, the coming science of designing and building machines at the molecular and atomic levels. Will this new scientific revolution be for better or worse? Some commentators have described utopias; others have prophesied disaster. Find out the likely reality from an expert, Dr. J. Storrs Hall, in this absorbing insider’s guide to the near future.

Dr. Hall — a leading researcher on the frontiers of nanotechnology who has designed for NASA — describes nanotechnology in a very accessible way, so that anyone can understand what it’s about, what it could do, and what it can’t do. He puts it into historical context, explaining how previous technological developments have affected us, how nanotechnology fits into the historical trends for technologies ranging from motors to medicine, and how the continuation of these trends, with nanotechnology as a strong determining factor, will have a profound impact on the future.

In addition to describing his famous invention Utility Fog, Hall explains how nanotechnology will make possible many of the science fiction dreams of the past. But what hurdles, technological, political, or social, stand in the way? What dangers will this powerful new technology pose? How will it impact the environment? Can we afford to develop it? Can we afford not to? The true dangers are not what you may think, and are far different from the fears of today’s alarmists. In a straightforward, balanced manner, Dr. Hall analyzes the benefits as well as the potential risks.

Together with its sister science of biotechnology, nanotechnology has the potential to alter the very human race, change who we are. Can this possibly be good? Should it be encouraged or opposed? No one knows for sure, but the basis for informed thought can be found in these exciting, stimulating pages, which will open the doors of the future to you.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nanotechnology has become a hot topic in recent years, but few laypeople understand what it is. Hall writes that nanotechnology "involves building machines whose parts are of molecular size, but more importantly, of atomic precision...." He foresees nanotechnology progressing through five stages of development, stage one being our current ability to image objects at an atomic scale with a limited ability to manipulate them, and stage five being the ability of miniature robots to reproduce and learn from experience. A fellow of the Molecular Engineering Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., Hall devotes a chapter to his own concept, "Utility Fog," a fog composed of nanoparticles that will coalesce to form sofas, coffee tables and maybe even artificial plants, and then disintegrate back into fog. More realistic predictions include thin body suits that will control body temperature, allowing people to live in the tropics or in the Arctic and medical advances that will send artificial antibodies into the bloodstream to destroy bacteria or viruses. Hall admits that civilization could face many dangers as nanotechnology advances, but he argues that banning its development in the U.S. would only result in other countries or groups gaining technological dominance. Readers excited by the promises of nanotechnology will find this book a gripping read. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A leading nanotechnology researcher, Hall offers this popularization of the subject, covering the physical principles of engineering at the atomic scale, possible applications of nanomachines, and their potential alteration of human society. Before overreacting to that last prospect, readers would benefit from learning how a nano-sized gadget is built, which Hall explains clearly with references to chemical bonds, the van der Waals force, and quantum mechanical behavior. What to build comes next, and Hall explores the mechanical possibilities. Traits such as self-repair and self-replication, Hall avers, could be imitated by tiny machines designed for targeted medical therapies, as touted in a recent tract of techno-optimism, More Than Human, by Ramez Naam (2005). Hall also discusses wild-sounding household appliances--a synthesizer that makes clothes and furniture, air cars, fog composed of nanobots, and more that would make techno-pessimists, such as Bill McKibben (Enough, 2003), blanch, and Hall directs more than a few ripostes McKibben's way. Expressed in conversational prose, Hall's positive outlook gives readers the buzz behind the buzzword nanotechnology. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 333 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (May 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591022878
• ISBN-13: 978-1591022879
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #626,130 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nanostructures

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Deja vu November 16, 2005

By M. A. Plus

Format:Hardcover

I had the feeling I've read this book before. And in a way I have, because it recycles much of Eric Drexler's book, "Engines of Creation," from nearly 20 years ago, even copying Drexler's condescending way of explaining basic scientific and technological concepts. It would have made more sense for Hall to publish an updated edition of "Engines" and list himself as a co-author, instead of writing a largely derivative book of his own. He could still have put in a chapter about his "invention" of Utility Fog, yet another example of nanotech vaporware that many of us long-time "Transhumanists" probably won't live long enough to see. I didn't feel I got my money's worth, so borrow it from the library before you decide whether to buy it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Hall needs an editor. December 8, 2005

By S. Jackson

Format:Hardcover

I can't give this book more than two stars, and that's being generous.

Mr. Hall does present some interesting ideas, but unfortunately, his editors have done him a huge disservice. Here are the first three sentences of Stage I, on page 23;

Essentially what we have now--nanoscale science and technology--including the ability to image at the atomic scale with scanning probe microscopes, and a very limited ability to manipulate, that is, by pushing things around with the same scanning probes. A scanning probe is essentially like feeling something with a stick. Because you have a computer behind it, you can touch it in a very close grid of points and produce a picture.

I made it through the first fifty pages, and it didn't get any better.

I don't know if Mr. Hall had a final read before publication, or not, but someone should have stopped this book from being published until it was properly edited.

t

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book about what is next for science. June 28, 2006

By Paul Mosier VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

First of all I must say this book is not for the faint of heart or faint of mind. I wouldn't reccomend someone who hadn't been educated at a university or at least had interest in nanotechnology. For those who don't know nanotechnology in the loose usage is just parts that range from 1 to 1000 nanometers in size-essentially many billions of times smaller than the width of a human hair. However, what people in the industry refer to as true nanotechnology is machinery that can operate at a molecular or atomic level. Some aspects of the book get fairly deep into biology, physics and chemistry. For the first half of the book there is a "nanofact" or possible amazing thing that can be done with this technology every other page. The second half gets into the logistics and actual possiblity of nanotechnology.

Not to be terribly critical but it is clear Hall's PhD is in science and not literature. I didn't go looking for errors but I did find a few. So if you are looking for a well edited book or mind some of the goofy onomotopia then you probably shouldn't read this book. Nanofuture is more like a science fiction novel written by an actual scientist than a reference. About halfway through the book I felt like could have really started to curtail. Instead Dr. Hall starts going into more opinated topics such as space living and transhumanism. I say opininated because they are his opinions. While some are warranted, others are just what he feels should happen. This is why scientists don't run countries.

Hall touts nanotechnology as the next technological revolution and he makes a very good argument for it. Some of the most interesting facts: it would be possible to make an electrostatic engine with billions of smaller nanoengines capable of making the equivalent of a 100,000 horsepower jet engine that could fit in the palm of your hand/an atomically precise building going up for tens of miles/all the information on the internet (approximately 4 billion webpages) could fit into a single grain of sand with nanotechnology.

Hall talks about five stages of nanotechnology which ranges from stage one which are just moving parts at the nanometer level to level five where whole nanofactories can replicate themselves and are completely autonomous. Having completed some college physics I know a few things about the possibility of these quite incredible machines. Everything at least is plausible because on the atomic level there is no waste and these machines will not ever wear, making so many things in transportation almost infinitely more efficient.

The latter part of the book gets into some considerably further off technology such as synthesizing machines and robots. Some of this seems to be almost pointless to put in the book because a large part of it is speculation--especially the robots. More importantly the greatest factor in deciding if and when nanotechnology will come to fruition is politics. Science and progress, for the past several centuries has depended on politics, whether in the church or in the government. According to Hall one billion dollars a year are being allocated to research across the United States. Unfortunately, much of this funding is going to research that is moving rather slow and/or being used for creating small parts for current technology in cpu's, cell phones, televisions and various other electronics. He intimates that nanotechnology is most likely going to be considerably advanced in the next decade, almost certainly in the next 25 years and definitely in the next century. I have to agree with him about this, but only in the sense that this technology will become more prevalent; quite possibly never ubiquitous as televisions or computers.