If you follow Drexler's blog and see what he actually says, you'll see plenty of realistic near-term topics like http://metamodern.com/2010/08/13/progress-in-pe

If you follow Drexler's blog and see what he actually says, you'll see plenty of realistic near-term topics like http://metamodern.com/2010/08/13/progress-in-peptoid-toolkit-development/ http://metamodern.com/2010/08/13/progress-in-peptoid-toolkit... http://metamodern.com/2010/05/20/a-programmable-nanoscale-assembly-line/ http://metamodern.com/2010/05/20/a-programmable-nanoscale-as... http://metamodern.com/2010/03/12/the-molecular-approach-to-atomically-precise-fabrication/ http://metamodern.com/2010/03/12/the-molecular-approach-to-a... http://metamodern.com/2010/03/01/ribo-q1-genetic-manufacturing-expanded/ http://metamodern.com/2010/03/01/ribo-q1-genetic-manufacturi... You can test the OP's picture of Drexler this way considerably more easily than by studying _Nanosystems_ yourself (which is hard).