But first, let's define nanotechnology. It is generally technology that is on the nano scale, which is one billionth of a meter. We're dealing with the realm of the atoms and molecules. Hence any technological application where we're manipulating materials at the atomic/molecular level can be called nanotechnology. What is going into applications or already in application has already started to change our lives.
In this article I would like to discuss specifically what most people think of when it comes to nanotechnology. Yep, you heard it, nano robots and the like.
I discuss the philosophical implications in the video below:
Bio-engineering
I've written quite a bit about how we're now able to manipulate molecules to be able to create tiny organic machines. Well, that's one form of nanotechnology using organic molecules of course!
In the past, we've explored the great advancements we've made using the CRISPR-Cas9 protein complex, a complex that we've modified from bacteria to do a simple job: repair defective genes with great precision. With it, we can cure over time all genetic diseases, repair mutated genomes and even cut out viruses that are hiding in our cell's nuclei (viruses like Herpes etc...).
We're also capable of creating our very own chromosomes and we've also made the first synthetic form of life, through engineering fairly recently. Pretty cool that we're able to do this right? Though that one is old news since the first was in 2010!
Cybernetics
In 2015, a company in Stockholm, Sweden, decided that it would be practical to implant their 2,000 odd workers with tiny chips in their hands to be used as passes for security purposes as well as allow them to wave their hands in order to make purchases on site with the distribution system knowing exactly to which account flag the purchase. With this tech, it would be possible to also know exactly when each employee is taking breaks, when they come in, when they leave, whether they are healthy or in distress etc... The list goes on and on. The company says they did this to be at the forefront of technology and be seen as a technologically advanced company in Stockholm. Though the information I have doesn't exactly state all the features they may have integrated into the nano-chip but the workers don't seem to mind. The device has very small components and don't impede their work at all.
This though makes them all cyber-workers all of a sudden transmitting through their hands their identity... something that is hard to fake. You can't exactly leave this chip to a friend to enter onto the premises and if one day someone had part of their hand cut out, it would come out as pretty suspicious, and security would definitively investigate a breach...
Personally, I'm not a fan of any kind of surgery... heck I don't even like the prospects of getting a small tattoo (one day?). But frankly, if its pretty superficial and I can get serious benefits from the small implant, I would go for it too and follow the buzz!
Nano racing cars
In 2011, scientists started building actual moving machines, including cars at the nano level. This year, 2017, is the first nano-car race competition. These things are very small, and truly "nano" with wheels 60 atoms wide organized on a carbon atom chassis. Heck they will even create a nano racetrack with actual atomic obstacles for the competition. How can you participate? Well, you have to be pretty expert and have the right equipment to make cars of that size.
But don't fret, some labs have even thought of creating IKEA-style rules and numbered parts so you could make your own car (in this case, nano biocars using a hard material skeleton and muscle cells that act as drivers). Once the novelty of the races will pass, I'm sure we'll start getting pretty good at making hybrid or technological machines on the same scale that would have more practical uses, like perhaps build things atom by atom. Not a far-fetched idea in our world of 3D Printing tech.
I for one, am excited that we've figured out increasingly innovative and efficient ways to build machines, organic or non-organic, that can do tasks at that scale.
