From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Sun Aug 27 2000 - 08:58:19 MDT
Technotranscendence wrote:
> What do you think it the fastest way to get from here to there -- there
> being a world where the nanotechnology Singularity has happened? (Is it
> good to take the fastest route?)
Speed is one concern. Quality is another. If you concentrate just on
getting nanotech developed...well, a world that has dissolved into grey
goo *does* have nanotech.
That being said, the sooner nanotech can be developed and gotten into
the general public knowledge base, the less time any lone crazy or small
group of people seeing the world as their enemy - i.e., just about the
only type who would deliberately destroy the world - will have to
develop nanotech on their own.
> I think we can choose paths where we go from simple stuff that works --
> building a tugboat that floats as opposed to an ocean liner that sinks -- at
> first and spreading that. We might also try to use the market: build stuff
> that targets areas that will pay a lot -- be financially profitable -- and
> use not only those profits to produce more but also to attract other
> investors (in terms of both money and skills; researchers invest their time
> and talent, right?) to the field, ones that currently aren't involved.
That is definitely one avenue worth pursuing, though in order to play
the market, you'll have to be able to convince investors that you're
close enough to something that will sell well - say, being able to mass
produce reliable, useful, and commercially feasable quantum or molecular
computers - that their investment will carry you the rest of the way.
You'd also have to worry about competition, though if you will be doing
much more extensive development than just repeating other peoples'
experiments, patents may be able to help (this being exactly the kind of
situation they were designed for).
I'm actually thinking of using this process myself, but in another field
- cybernetics - where I think I may be able to more easily assemble the
resources and develop the products needed to get a business going. But
the field choice is just due to my own circumstances; there are
undoubtedly people who would personally find this easier for nano than
for cyber.
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