Customer Reviews

Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics, and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For optimists and those who find life in the 21st century a complete source of exhiliration, and for those who are indulging themselves in the dizzying pace of technological advancement, this book is sheer delight. Speculative in some points, and gaurded in others, the author has written a book that takes the reader through a future that is not far distant, and a future that is now. Genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, nanoscale computing, and robotics are here, right now, and advances in these areas show every sign of being explosive.

The author asks us to imagine a conversation between a farmer in the year 1899 and a person who rolls up in an early automobile. The driver tells the farmer what is ahead in the next decades, such as playing golf on the moon, his children being able to drive themselves faster than a locomotive, his cows milked using machines, etc. The author then replays the same conversation but with a farmer of the year 2001, he automobile is replaced by a flying car: golf will be played on Mars, and egg hatcheries will be designed by computers that do a better job then humans, agriculture will be replaced by food synthesizers, etc. With these hypothetical conversations, the author asks us to take stock in our skepticism that the future he outlines in the book it too far-fetched.

He is certainly correct in his reasoning. There are too many instances of "famous last words" when it comes to the future of a particular technological development. If one takes cognizance of the many developments that are now occuring simultaneously, it would be hard to tell exactly which ones are going to prevail. For example, when it comes to the enhancement of human capabilities, I see a competition between genetic engineering and artificial intelligence arising in the future. Both are strategies to improve human mental and physical capabilities, but are essentially different ways of course to meet these ends. The marketplace, and not government, will hopefully determine the outcome of this competition, but it, may disappear entirely if new methodologies, up to this time unknown, dilute the efficacy of these approaches.

In addition, human factors engineering, which is not really emphasized in the book, may determine the outcome of particular technologies. Voice recognition and command in computers for example, may be too annoying to actually employ in the workplace, if open cubicle environments are still in place. The resulting noise level of everyone talking to their computers might be too irritating. Federal and state health requirements also have a repressive influence on the employing of new technology. With the growing hostility towards genetic engineering, governments will be stepping up their regulations and this might dampen the ever-growing amplitude of 21st century development.

The author is aware of these attitudes towards technology, and so he attempts to offer a different sort of justification for employing them, particularly nanotechnology. Much space in the book is devoted to the use of this to combat natural disasters, such as asteroids, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamies, and radical climate changes. Many of his proposals for using nanotechnology to do this are interesting, such as "utility fog", which allows material objects to change shape at arbitrary time scales, food fabrication using molecular biosynthesis and robotic replenishment, and the intelligent product system (IPS), which allows maximal compatibility with the environment. In addition, the author envisions the deployment of millions of nanosatellites that will probe the solar system in order to find rogue asteroids that threaten our planet. Once found, the asteroid will be dissassembled layer by layer to a size that nullifies its threat. The residue will then be used as raw materials for space-based colonies.

The author is also realistic in his appraisal of just what it is going to take from a financial perspective to develop the technology which he envisions. Such developments can be accomplished, and the financial and time scales involved, coupled with the physical dimensions of the technology, are the justification for his optimism. He does not use "inevitability" arguments to justify future technology developments, but instead realizes, correctly, that such developments are subject to human volition. We can halt or move forward, the choice being completely our own.

Robo sapiens, Robo servers, and Homo provectus, may be on the way the author states. He asks us if we are ready, and he asks us to consider the answers to the employment of new technologies ourselves, and not leave it up to our government or religious leaders, who themselves are explaining it to us inadequately, he argues. Religious institutions are centuries behind, companies are selling products and services but are not structured to serve our interests, and scientists are too involved in their projects to consider how their discoveries will impact human life on Earth.

The author encourages the reader to get involved, or invent, institutions or strategies that will mesh with the technological advances that are confronting each one of us. I cannot speak for the author here, but he seems to be incredibly optimisitic. This is refreshing, for this indeed is the most exciting time to be alive. We should all constantly attempt to improve ourselves and others with the knowledge we have available. With genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, highly sophisticated mathematics, robotics, and nanotechnology, we have precisely the right instruments, at precisely the right time, to participate in and build the greatest century yet for the human species...

If I had to sum up the main theme of this work, I would say it's about preservation of the human species. A large portion of this work is devoted to how humans (or our progeny) can avoid extinction by natural and man-made disaster. All other discussions seem to lead to this point in one form or another. The author believes that the underlying technologies in the title can and perhaps will provide for our salvation if we play our cards right.

The author has done his research and has a large source of information to draw from. This book gives the reader a good overview of real scientific advancements as well as other insights from prominent leaders and theorists in these fields. There are ample notes and anecdotes to give the reader the option to pursue more detailed information on the topics.

A few parts of the book drag due to some repetitiveness and some of the discussions don't appear to have a firm scientific base and don't seem too plausible, especially if you have decent scientific knowledge in the particular subject. If you are a scientist or engineer with some expertise in the fields you may find that some theories lack a firm foundation. However one theme that comes with the author's optimism is that throughout history, even the most prominent experts have been proven wrong through natural progressions and even breakthroughs!

This work is not incredibly deep or profound though quite entertaining and at times it appears to feel more like a novel than a documentary of the future. It is suitable for readers of all walks of life.

Doug Mulhall is a bold, fluent & brillant writer that is able to communicate with both lay persons and scientists alike....a must read! His description of nanotechnological developments lead us by the hand into the future gently, then exposes the potential harsh realities and wonders that will be available to us. With his command of writing, he explains difficult concepts by making them real. I particularly appreciated him writing about an exciting startup, NanobacLabs Pharmaceuticals that has developed nanobiotics to fight nanobacterial infections. The read led me to a physician that wrote a prescription for NanobacTX that appears to be eradicating my heart disease! I not only enjoyed the book, but he may have ultimately saved my life.....sign me, GRATEFUL.

Fascinating glimpse into the future.
Rarely does one find a book with as many insights into the future as Our Molecular Future. Page after page there are concepts which are entirely foreign to you before reading them, and then seem so self-evident after you have understood them. Clearly, not everything that is depicted in the book is going to come to pass in our lifetimes. However, this was the best book I have read for years. Not since Godel, Escher, Bach have I thought so much while reading!

You can see this book was written by a journalist rather than a scientist.

Yes, it contains a big deal of information, but this is casually scattered all over the text with little resemblance of order. The feeling you get is that the author searched the internet for a few weeks looking for anything he could find about future technologies and than casually slapped the lot on paper interspersing it with his own rants. I'm not saying this is what he actually did, but surely it is what it feels like.

A lot of futuristic gizmos are described but how are they really supposed to work, how likely is that they are ever really realized and when, if ever, they will be available hardly is.
So the author describes how in the future nanobots will swim in our blood vessels cleaning it from all sort of impurities. That's all good and well but how will, in practice, this bots work? How will they be built? Where will they get the energy to function from? What kind of intelligence will they have to perform their task? What are the collateral risks of such technology? When can we expect them to be available? Which scientists and researchers think building such devices is possible and which think it is not, and especially why? This kind of information is hardly present and when it is appears shallow in content and scattered seemingly at random all over the book.

If I wanted fancy scenarios rather than hard facts I would have bought a science fiction novel. As a matter of fact a lot of the gizmos the author mentions I personally already encountered in science fiction, only better explained.

Fact is, if I just wanted scattered information I would have searched the internet myself at a much cheaper cost than the book's. Nowadays most of what you need to know is online, if you buy a book you are looking for a tidy summary and/or a deeper analysis. Did this part of the present technological revolution escape such a futurist author?

I have just finished reading this book, and i must say wow! This is a amazing read from start to end. The book goes over what Nanotechnology is now, and what possiblities are there in the future. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about Nanotechnology.

If there is a better book that can get one up to speed on the ramifications of nanotechnology, then I'd like to know about it.

The media does a poor job on covering nanotechnology. Forget the media; read this book instead.

The author was on the Art Bell show recently. Three hours was not enough time to do this book and subject justice.

Art Bell fans will love this book. It covers many of the catastrophe scenarios that Art and George Noory talk about.

Art and George spend little time talking about nanotechnology. Again, read this book and you'll enjoy their next show on nanotechnology even more.

If you believe this book, then nanotechnology will change your life like nothing that has ever come before.

It's like reading a science fiction novel, only minus the fiction.

Anyone familiar with Ray Kurzweil and/or the notion of the Singularity will not be surprised by this book. The difference between Mulhall and other technological prophets is the degree of detail. Actually, the book should have been expanded into two - the first covering background and possible trends, the second dealing with societal and individual reaction and responses to this coming future.

It is a truism but the wild blue yonder never seems wild or blue or so yonder. What we now casually accept as part of everyday life - the ability to communicate with anyone at anytime, the abundance of free knowledge, the vast capabilities of computers, machines without moving parts, the merging of radio, camera, computer and telephone into a single device - this would have seemed almost miraculous even 15 years ago. I have an idea that a future in which we can have whatever we want through nanotech is still a long way off. The problem is two fold: How will such power be controlled and who will do the controlling.

This is yet another opportunity for increasing the authority of the State when, on the face of it, these creations should lead to individual empowerment. The best parts were the technical discussions, what will or will not be possible, when and how all this will come about. The preachy parts were the worst and should have been in another book. When I see the word "should" as in "what we should do is" I feel a warning. Perhaps the most poignant warning was an event that is today occurring: The forgetting of culture and the past. It seems as if our new technology has made all things new without any reference to the past. Like the Hopi (his example), we may once remember this society by our leftovers. The discussion on democracy was good but not nearly extensive enough. If we are to maintain any notion of individual worth, privacy, "rights" and community, this problem must be dealt with even as we advance. My grade: B