Making Something Out Of Nothing

"Drexlerian" nanotechnology is still a ways off. "Star Trek" replicators, or invisible "utility fogs" that can coalesce into useful shapes-a screwdriver, perhaps, or a dinette set-remain dreams. Even the faithful wonder where a universal assembler would get instructions or power, or how it could control every chemical interaction. But, says Chris Peterson, Drexler's wife and the executive director of the Foresight Institute, where they study nanotech and its societal implications, "this is an engineering problem, really." It might even be solvable outside Tomorrowland.

© 1997