MINSKY@OZ.AI.MIT.EDU (02/16/88)
Dolata's reamrks about nanoscopic chemistry missed the point, so far as I can see, in arguing that because it is a scanning microscope it is not involved with individual molecules but is more like regular volume chemistry. However, the molecular rearrangement was not accomplished by a conventional bulk effect. Instead, it was accomplished by a sub-microsecond pulse applied during the scan so that it occurred while the needle was over a particular molecule. The next step, of course, is to try to make a particular modification at a particular site on the molecule. Much more will be done in the area soon, I'm sure, because the techniques seem quite accessible. But I see no reason to denigrate the technique because it uses scanning. Simply think of scanning as examining, and possibly modifying, large numbers of points is sequence. What could be better? The trouble with traditional chemistry is, in fact, that it is constrained to do the same thing to everything, in parallel.