Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization

  • 5h 27m
  • K. Eric Drexler
  • Perseus Books, L.L.C.
  • 2013

K. Eric Drexler is the founding father of nanotechnology—the science of engineering on a molecular level. In Radical Abundance, he shows how rapid scientific progress is about to change our world. Thanks to atomically precise manufacturing, we will soon have the power to produce radically more of what people want, and at a lower cost. The result will shake the very foundations of our economy and environment.

Already, scientists have constructed prototypes for circuit boards built of millions of precisely arranged atoms. The advent of this kind of atomic precision promises to change the way we make things—cleanly, inexpensively, and on a global scale. It allows us to imagine a world where solar arrays cost no more than cardboard and aluminum foil, and laptops cost about the same.

A provocative tour of cutting edge science and its implications by the field’s founder and master, Radical Abundance offers a mind-expanding vision of a world hurtling toward an unexpected future.

About the Author

K. Eric Drexler developed, named, and popularized the concept of nanotechnology. Currently at the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology at Oxford University, Drexler is a frequent public speaker on scientific issues, addressing audiences of politicians, business leaders, scientists, and engineers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

In this Book

  • Radical Abundance—How A Revolution In Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization
  • A Necessary Prelude
  • Atoms, Bits, and Radical Abundance
  • An Early Journey of Ideas
  • From Molecules to Nanosystems
  • Three Revolutions, and a Fourth
  • The Look and Feel of the Nanoscale World
  • The Ways We Make Things
  • Science and the Timeless Landscape of Technology
  • The Clashing Concerns of Engineering and Science
  • Exploring the Potential of Technology
  • The Machinery of Radical Abundance
  • The Products of Radical Abundance
  • Today’s Technologies of Atomic Precision
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future . . .
  • How to Accelerate Progress
  • Transforming the Material Basis of Civilization
  • Managing a Catastrophic Success
  • Security for an Unconventional Future
  • Changing Our Conversation About the Future
  • Notes
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