josh@cs.rutgers.edu (04/20/91)
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The following material is reprinted *with permission* from the | | Foresight Update No 11, 4/15/91. | | Copyright (c) 1991 The Foresight Institute. All rights reserved. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Thanks We would like to give special thanks to Russell Mills, who has donated many, many hours of help on the design and layout of Update and other Foresight publications. Some assistance for Russ has been found thanks to Hilary Nelson, who did the layout on this issue. Special thanks also go to Bob Fleming, Cheri Kushner, and their company fut-heuristix for the generous donation of a Canon copier. This will make a big difference to our office operations. Thanks to Hank Lederer for his database searches on NEXIS. Hank can no longer supply these, so we are looking for someone with access to NEXIS to run periodic searches on the word nanotechnology. Thanks also to those who volunteered to help with publication layout; we hope to take advantage of your generous offers. Belated thanks to Felix Frayman for help in translating from Russian to English. Thanks to the following for sending technical articles and media coverage; please keep these coming: Richard Cathcart, Giri Cherukuri, Jim Conyngham, Dick Crawford, Eric Dahlstrom, Donald J. Fears, Jaroslav Franta, W.C. Gaines, Alan Hald, Robin Hanson, Mark Haviland, Stan & Kiyomi Hutchings, Anthony L. Johnson, Spencer MacCallum, Joy Martin, Tom McKendree, Anthony Oberley, John Papiewski, Jack Powers, Alvin Steinberg, and Christian Talbert. QCP Foresight Requests We will need volunteers to staff the Foresight Institute booth at the Space Development Conference. See the article in this issue for details. We are also looking for a volunteer to prepare an index for the proceedings of the First Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology. From our "Thanks" column it's clear that many readers are already sending in articles, both technical and nontechnical. We'd like to make this more systematic for the technical articles, with volunteers agreeing to monitor specific journals. If you routinely look at one or more of the following and are willing to send us copies of relevant articles, please contact us: Angewandt Chemie, JACS, J. Appl. Phys., Appl. Phys Lett., Protein Engineering, J. Computational Chemistry, J. Molecular Electronics. As always, articles from other publications are welcome. We already monitor Science, Nature, and Science News. WeUd also appreciate help from Japan in identifying relevant journals and obtaining abstracts in English of key articles. Someone with routine access to NEXIS could help us by running periodic searches on the word nanotechnology. We are in need of the following materials and help: a fax machine and a laser printer for the Macintosh. Office space in the Palo Alto area is needed as well. Volunteers with legal or fundraising experience are welcome. Note that donations of equipment or funds are tax-deductible in the U.S. as charitable contributions. If you or your company can help with any of the above, please call us at 415-324-2490. Upcoming Events Hypertext Publishing '91, April 2-4, 1991, Pittsburgh Hilton, $450. Sponsored by Texas Instruments and Knowledge Systems. Focuses on stand-alone hypertext publications rather than large open systems. Contact 412-241-2264; fax 412-241-2307. Molecular Graphics Society Meeting, May 14-17, 1991, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Interactive graphics, presentation graphics, interfaces networking, novel display techniques; includes vendor exhibition. Contact Molecular Graphics Conference Office, c/o Dr. Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Dept. of Computer Science, University of Computer Science, Univ. of NC, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3175. Nanostructures and Mesoscopic Systems, May 20-24, 1991, Sante Fe, NM, sponsored by Texas A&M EE and Physics Dept., NSF, DoE, TI. Covers quantum effects and today's top-down fabrication methods. Contact 409-845-2590 or email mycomp@lotemp.tamu.edu. Space Development Conference, May 22-27, 1991, Hyatt Regency, San Antonio, TX, sponsored by National Space Society, Southwest Research Institute. Cosponsored by Foresight Institute. Will have a session and workshop on nanotechnology, and a table for Foresight Institute; see elsewhere in this issue for details. Register before May 1 at cosponsor rate of $70: contact Beatrice Moreno, 512-522-2260. AAAI-91, National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, July 14-19, 1991, Anaheim, California. Sponsored by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. Contact 415-328-3123; fax 415-321-4457; email NCAI@aaai.org. STM '91, International Conference on Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, August 12-16, 1991, Interlaken, Switzerland. Contact Ch. Gerber, fax (1) 724 31 70. Second Foresight Conference on Nanotechnology, Nov. 7-9, 1991. Technical meeting sponsored by Foresight Institute, Stanford Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology. See announcement elsewhere in this issue. Science and Technology at the Nanometer Scale, American Vacuum Society National Symposium, Nov. 11-15, 1991, Seattle, WA. Contact James Murday, Code 6100, NRL, Washington, DC 20375-5000; fax 202-404-7139 (or American Vacuum Society). Ecotech, Nov. 14-17, Monterey Conference Center, $595. Participating organizations include Apple Computer, CPSR, Econet, Foresight Institute, Global Business Network. Will explore the technologies of ecology and their application. For businesspeople, scientists, environmentalists, public policy makers. Includes a talk and workshop on nanotechnology. Hypertext '91, Dec. 15-18, San Antonio, TX. All areas of hypertext research. Contact 409-845-0298, fax 409-847-8578, or email ht91@bush.tamu.edu. Third Conference on Technology, Entertainment & Design, Feb. 20-23, 1992, Monterey, CA. Confirmed speakers include Stewart Brand, Jaron Lanier, Paul Saffo, John Sculley, Edward Tufte. Great fun, but expensive. Contact 619-259-5110; fax 619-259-1495. Books of Note Books are listed in increasing order of specialization and reading challenge. Your suggestions are welcome. And remember, if a book's price looks too high, your library should be able to get it through interdepartmental loan. --Editor Doing Science, ed. John Brockman, Prentice Hall Press, 1991, softcover, $11.95. For the general reader. Includes essays on exploratory engineering by Eric Drexler, on the methods of theoretical physics by Foresight advisor Gerald Feinberg, on artificial life by Kevin Kelly, and on how to tell science from pseudoscience by Richard Morris. Essence of Creativity: A Guide to Tackling Difficult Problems, by Steven H. Kim, Oxford University Press, 1990, hardcover, $29.95. Prof. Kim of MIT explores methods of addressing and resolving problems that admit of no obvious solution, or for which even the means of attaining a solution are unclear. Includes: the incremental growth of ideas, enhancing the processing phase of creativity, with a special focus on applications in research and product development. For thinkers everywhere. Media Watch A documentary on nanotechnology entitled "Little by Little" has won the Prix du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Produced by David Kennard and others at InCA for the Equinox series on Channel 4 in England, the program was honored at the 7th International Television Science Broadcast Festival in Paris last October, sponsored by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Agence Jules Verne. An international jury chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Education Science at Tokyo University awarded the prizes. The award cited the program "because it shows how the dreams of one scientist can create effervescence in worlds as separated from one another as chemistry, biology, and technology." The February 7 issue of Nature featured a short but striking article on nanotechnology in Japan (see article in this issue). The March-April issue of The Futurist included a nanotechnology article, as did the January-February issue of CanadaUs Equinox magazine. The New Scientist ran a review of the British edition of Engines of Creation last fall (1Sep90). Foresight Online We now have an online address: foresight@cup.portal.com. CompuServe users can reach us by sending mail addressed to: >INTERNET:foresight@cup.portal.com. There is an electronic discussion group on nanotechnology called sci.nanotech on the USENET computer network; it can be reached by members of the general public who subscribe to a commercial service such as Portal, the service we use. Portal can be reached by calling 408-973-9111, or sign on automatically by having your modem dial 415-725-0561. Another service, the WELL, also carries sci.nanotech; they can be reached at 415-332-4335 (voice) or 415-332-6106 (data). Both Portal and the WELL are based in the San Francisco Bay Area but are accessible to those outside the area. If similar services exist in your local calling area, it may be less expensive to use them instead of the services described here. We look forward to hearing from you online. CPSR Explores Nanotechnology The Palo Alto chapter of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility has recently formed a special interest group to explore new technical developments, social consequences, and potential benefits and dangers of nanotechnology. Founded by Apple computer scientist Ted Kaehler, a long-time participant in both CPSR and the Foresight Institute, the group meets every two weeks to discuss all aspects of the anticipated technology: implementation methods, applications, and eventual effects on our lives. The group will soon visit a local vendor of scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopes. For more information contact Ted at 408-974-6241 or kaehler2@applelink.apple.com. Meeting notices are sent to members of the Palo Alto chapter of CPSR (you need not be a computer professional to join), or can be obtained electronically from Ted. CPSR can be reached at P.O. Box 717, Palo Alto, CA 94301. Recent Events In February Eric Drexler gave a plenary lecture on nanotechnology, titled RToward 10^15 [*note superscript] MIPS,S at the IEEE's Compcon computer conference held in San Francisco, and later spoke on "Freedom of the Press for the Press of the Future." A proceedings volume (including the latter paper but not the plenary lecture) is available from IEEE Computer Society Press, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, PO Box 3014, Los Alamitos, CA 90720-1264; request order number 2134. Earlier in February he presented the concept to the New Roles in Society group at the American Association of Retired Persons, which has stimulated an invitation to speak at an April meeting of this groupUs steering committee. In January the MIT Nanotechnology Study Group held an event at which a videotape on nanotechnology was shown -- recorded at the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) -- followed by a telephone-linked question and discussion session. In February, Ralph Merkle of the Computational Nanotechnology Project at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center spoke on nanotechnology at the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology, and at University of Nevada at Las Vegas. The latter talk was sponsored by the American Chemical Society chapter and the local office of the Environmental Protection Agency. Also in February, Dr. Merkle spoke on the same topic at the Xerox Research Center of Canada. In earlier months, he gave a well-received talk on silicon nanotechnology at the Frontiers of Supercomputing II meeting at Los Alamos, followed by a special evening session held on the topic. Markets inside Computers The Agorics Project is building working markets operating entirely as object-oriented computer software, to test theories on how markets evolve. Based at the Center for the Study of Market Processes at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, the effort was originally inspired by a series of three papers written by Mark S. Miller and K. Eric Drexler. A few copies of these papers, donated by Mark Miller, are still available from Foresight; within the U.S., please send a large, self-addressed envelope with $2.36 postage. (Outside the U.S., try to include a donation that will roughly cover our postage costs.) Miller now serves as Co-director of the project, along with Prof. Don Lavoie. Graduate students aiding the project include Howard Baetjer, Kevin Lacobie, and Bill Tulloh. The project is now seeking additional funds to expand its work. Those interested in the project can read about it in the CenterUs free newsletter, Praxis. Contact the Center at 703-323-3483, or online at agorics@gmuvax.gmu.edu (BITNET) or 76476.455@compuserve.com. For the full story behind the Agorics Project, request the Spring 1990 issue of the CenterUs journal Market Process. In addition to two articles on evolutionary economics, this issue contains an article by Phillip K. Salin on the ecology of decisions, or how to improve our models of the decision-making process. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Copyright (c) 1991 The Foresight Institute. All rights reserved. | | The Foresight Institute is a non-profit organization: Donations | | are tax-deductible in the United States as permitted by law. | | To receive the Update and Background publications in paper form, | | send a donation of twenty-five dollars or more to: | | The Foresight Institute, Department U | | P.O. Box 61058 | | Palo Alto, CA 94306 USA | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+