Jim_Day.XSIS@xerox.com (12/21/90)
It's true that discussions of wave-function collapse have little to do with nanotechnology. But the quantum Zeno effect, investigated by Itano and others, does demonstrate beautifully the distinction between the act of measurement and the act of observation. For a good description of this effect, see page 24 of the May issue of Scientific American. [Once a usable theory has been found to explain wave-function collapse, it might have major implications for nanotech (or might not). Most of our currently proposed nanomachines are designed as if molecules behaved more of less macroscopically. If quantum state superposition can be controlled one could build some pretty nifty machines... --JoSH]
cphoenix@csli.stanford.edu (Chris Phoenix) (01/01/91)
In article <Dec.20.14.15.13.1990.10120@athos.rutgers.edu> Jim_Day.XSIS@xerox.com writes: >[Once a usable theory has been found to explain wave-function collapse, > it might have major implications for nanotech (or might not). Most > of our currently proposed nanomachines are designed as if molecules > behaved more of less macroscopically. If quantum state superposition > can be controlled one could build some pretty nifty machines... > --JoSH] I haven't seen anything about this anywhere. Can you give us some hint of what a "nifty" machine could do? The ones we're talking about now are pretty nifty already... Several years ago I heard of something called prions, which the discussion of self-replicating chemicals reminded me of. As I recall, prions are proteins that appear to infect animals including humans and reproduce themselves. My memory is hazy, but I think they were even contagious, in the sense that if a prion were introduced into your body it could replicate enough to make you sick. Anyway, the point is that the prions, being pure protein, were somehow replicating themselves without containing DNA or RNA, and as I heard it people weren't sure how this was possible. I speculated at the time that they might be enzymes that happened to be able to put together proteins to make copies of themselves, but it occurs to me now that maybe they're coded for by the body's DNA and their function is to turn on that part of the DNA. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Is it interesting in this context? [Well, you can't give a good description of what a theory of wave- function collapse would let you do until you have some idea what it is like. A hint would be something like a physically non-deterministic computing element, where the "right answer" would collapse out of a simultaneous search done in superposed states. However, not enough is known to do more than speculate on the shakiest of ground... --JoSH]