ROSSEN@triumfer.bitnet (01/06/90)
I'm curious to know if anyone out there is working on extensive designs
of actual nanodevices, even though there is no practical method of
assembling them yet. I know that some really simple building blocks have
been proposed (e.g. carbyne rods) but I wonder if anything really extensive
has been done.
A while back I saw a Scientific American article that told how some MIT
students had designed a Tinker-Toy computer. Sounds like good practice
for aspiring nano-engineers...
Erik Rossen
[Eric is doing some fairly thoroughgoing designs, primarily as existence
proofs. Most serious nanotech fans (like me) seem to have dabbled in
a few fairly high-level type schemes but not to have done any
"engineering-level" work the way Eric has. One major reason is that
nobody (including Eric) expects the actual designs he's doing right now
to get built--by the time they're possible, they'll look like Babbage's
computer, and faster, more effective, and economical designs will have
evolved, probably using a lot of QM which our current designs go to
lots of trouble to keep out!
--JoSH]