Engines of Creation 2.0
“Some seminal works stand out like beacons in the history of science. Newton’s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica and Watson and Crick’s A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid come quickly to mind. In recent decades we can add Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation, which established the revolutionary new field of nanotechnology. In the twenty years since this seminal work was published, its premises and analyses have been confirmed and we are starting to apply precise molecular assembly to a wide variety of early applications from blood cell sized devices that can target cancer cells to a new generation of efficient solar panels. We can now see clearly the roadmap over the next couple of decades to the full realization of Drexler’s concept of the inexpensive assembly of macroobjects constructed at the nanoscale controlled by massively parallel information processes, the fulfillment of which will enable us to solve problems — energy, environmental degradation, poverty, and disease to name a few — that have plagued humankind for eons.”
Ray Kurzweil
“Engines of Creation is the best attempt so far to prepare us to think of what we might become, should we persist in making new technologies.”
Marvin Minsky
Originally published in 1986, K. Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation laid the theoretical foundation for the modern field of nanotechnology and articulated both the possibilities and dangers associated with engineering at the molecular scale. Unique for both its style and substance, the book is widely recognized as the seminal work in the field of nanotechnology. This updated and expanded edition of Engines of Creation heralds the new age of nanotechnology, complete with key supplements including the first known lecture on nanotechnology by physicist Richard Feynman, the landmark open letter debate between Drexler and the late nanotech pioneer and Nobel laureate Dr. Richard Smalley, and an analysis of the debate by renowned computer scientist Ray Kurzweil, and more.
Conversations
Ray Kurzweil Interviews the Father of Nanotechnology, Eric Drexler
Triangulation 104: Eric Drexler And Nanotechnology 
TWiT video podcast
Hosted by Leo Laporte
About the Author
K. Eric Drexler is often described as the “father of nanotechnology.” In 1981, he outlined an approach to implementing productive nanosystems in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that established fundamental principles of molecular design, protein engineering, and many areas of nanotechnology. Drexler’s theoretical research in this field has been the basis for numerous journal articles and books including Engines of Creation, Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization, and Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation.
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