Both Chris Phoenix and Mike Treder are self proclaimed "nanotechnologists", neither of which has any formal training in areas of nanotechnology nor has actually ever worked in the field. That is why no one takes them seriously.

Once again, Life immitates Art.

Ian M. Banks knows all about the future of substrate-based intellect.

Can I submit this as the worst web 2.0 bullshit ever? kthxbai

Was it just me, or did that whole article sound like it was written by amanfrommars?!?!?

...not only does it all make sense, it's perfectly coherent.

Think of this article as a mirror; if you see it as disjointed and incomprehensible, perhaps the problem is in the viewer rather than the author.

Nanomanufacturing is coming. I predict that China will be the first to deploy it on a large scale - and that political turmoil will follow worldwide as a result.

the failure point is still present, located "between keyboard and chair"

is it time to kiss Uranus goodbye ??

<uses pocket assembler to create a coat out of 3 pens and a cold cup of coffee>

Imagine the potential size of a PEBKAC involving nanomanufacturing... Before you know it you could have several tons of self-replicating nanomachines running havoc in the area...

Embarassed User:" errrr, I think I've just dissolved London.."

Nanotechnology Helpdesk:"OK, had you made a backup ?"

I don't know who this Marchant is, but I must say that I agree with him on that point. If we were doing biological weapons research like we do GM crop "research", then we'd all be dead.

I fail to understand how, in the name of Heaven, anyone was able to get a license to do open-field GM crops before all lab-environment tests were concluded. Well, actually I understand very well how this happened : Monsanto poured a few billion dollars into the right ears and all went the way they wanted.

Thanks to that disastrous decision, we now have GM crops cross-pollinated with non-GM crops, and God only knows what is going to happen tomorrow.

This GM stuff should have been grown under vast, environmentally-sealed white domes, just like in the X-Files film. Any precaution-taking at this point is closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.