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Perhaps it was true when this was written, but it's certainly not true now that "mechanical objects on microscales do not exist". The whole field of MEMS is abo
by Tossrock 7y ago
Perhaps it was true when this was written, but it's certainly not true now that "mechanical objects on microscales do not exist". The whole field of MEMS is about them, which includes such prosaic things as smartphone gyros/accelerometers.
- AstralStorm 7y agoEven then it was not true, however nanoscale manufacturing as envisioned by Drexler definitely does not exist. MEMS objects are made by lithography not pushing atoms around, and are extremely simple, usually just single chemical compound. (Sometimes a doped semiconductor.) Said simple structures are often very dissimilar to complexity envisioned by Drexler. By the way, first M in MEMS is micro. It's not NEMS. NEMS also exists, but again, it's made with lithography and chemistry, not any level of direct molecular manipulation. Heck, pharmacy chemists make nanostructures. (Liposomes and other vesicles specifically, for mechanical purposes. Peptides. Even protein assemblies.)