From: M. E. Smith (mesmith@rocketmail.com)
Date: Mon Nov 15 1999 - 14:12:28 MST
Geoff Smith wrote: "Have any singularitans drafted a
critique of the following site?
Thank you, Geoff, for bringing this to fascinating
site to my attention. Before now, I've never seen a
*good* critique of "Engines of Creation". Now I have.
Like you, I have reservations about a sentence here
and there, but overall Lyle Burkhead's article
"Nanotechnology without Genies" is well-reasoned.
His overall point reminds me of what has happened so
far with nuclear energy and it's original promise of
"energy too cheap to meter". The promise was based on
the simple physical fact that the energy levels
producable with nuclear reactions are orders of
magnitude greater than with chemical reactions.
However, when we actually went about constructing
nuclear energy plants, we found we needed to staff
them with so many well-trained people and include
layer-upon-layer of safeguards (not to mention the
costs of continually assuring the public that it was
safe) that, ultimately, the energy produced costed
more than that produced by coal-burning plants (which
is a shame, since burning coal is so much more dirty,
provided the nuclear plant is a good one that is run
right.)
His overall point ALSO reminds me of the so-called
"productivity paradox" associated with
computerization, and certain total-cost-of-ownership
arguments about PCs.
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose???
=====
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http://members.home.net/mesmith/
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