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A computer made of nanoscale mechanical latches, made using nano-fabricators, was in fact one of the examples Drexler proposed. Supposedly it would perform bett
by vilhelm_s 11y ago
A computer made of nanoscale mechanical latches, made using nano-fabricators, was in fact one of the examples Drexler proposed. Supposedly it would perform better than transistor-based ones. [http://www.halcyon.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.html http://www.halcyon.com/nanojbl/NanoConProc/nanocon2.html]
But isn't current computers an example of microscale fabrication that worked without being biochemical or biologically-inspired? They are made using optical etching, completely different from anything biology does.
- mannykannot 11y ago> But isn't current computers an example of microscale fabrication that worked without being biochemical or biologically-inspired? They are made using optical etching, completely different from anything biology does. Yes, and as such, this is another example suggesting that the road to nano-technology is not through the shrinking of macro-scale machinery. This may be moot, however, as this is not a self-replicating technology, unlike either Drexler's hypothetical or biology's actual molecular assemblers. Drexler's claims about the feasibility, let alone the performance, of his proposed computer strike me as highly speculative and sometimes self-serving (see, for example, the section on thermodynamic reversibility.) Furthermore, computer performance has made huge advances since the devices (Z80, Motorola 68000) he was comparing to.