Nanotech Economy?

[Redwolf]

By now, most of us know what nanotechnology is (or rather, will be). It's the use of tiny robots to move atoms and restructure anything chemically. You can make an apple from mud and vitamin pills for example. It's only about 15-25 years off. Anyway, I was thinking...If we could build boxes the size of microwave ovens that can make anything out of anything (like a processor out of sand, copper, and plastic), then could there be an economy at all? How could one exist?

[Knothead]

then could there be an economy at all? How could one exist?

That's a good question Redwolf.

Currently, we're so in love with our technology, that if we could create something that would have the effect of a "plague of locusts" upon the economy and our entire way of life, does anyone imagine that this fact would cause the slightest hesitation on the part of its creator?

NO WAY!! Push, push, push that technology, until we've diddled ourselves into a corner that we'll have no technology to help us out of.

Then again, I'm kind of a Luddite at heart, anyway.

[Redwolf]

Maybe this could put an end to the Haves-Have nots. Of course, that was the idea behind communism and look what happened...

[Knothead]

Oh, no, not at all. I think it'll be more like the world portrayed in the most subversive TV show ever, Max Headroom.

[Barney]

Not only would such a device destroy the economy, "EVIL" people would use it to create all kinds of weapons (like the ones from Men in Black ) and start World War 3 (if the economy going to hell wouldn't be enough to start a war).

[Redwolf]

Hey, nanotechnology isn't bad. It's not any worse than Computers.

We cannot just 'learn' all of nanotechnology in a single advancement, that is impossible. We will learn to do simple stuff with this technology first, then progress...

Plus, If they make these weapons, can't we make force shields to countert them? Then it would be a war of who's the most creative.

[Ed_S]

If we could build boxes the size of microwave ovens that can make anything out of anything (like a processor out of sand, copper, and plastic), then could there be an economy at all? How could one exist?

Even so, you'll still need
> the device
> raw materials
> the specs of the processor

Instead of saying that such technology would "destroy the economy", why not think that it would rather redefine our ways of thinking of economics.

Per Webster: economy - a system of management of resources.

Now, let's look at the possibilities.
> Everyone can make whatever they need or want at little or no cost.
> Employment as we know it ends - as manufacturing and repair of goods are obsolete concepts.
>Creativity would flourish. People who no longer need to spend all their time earning physical goods are free to THINK - or vegitate...
And no matter what, there will always be a need for designers of new products. After all, replicating something is far from creating the original!!
> Currency is obsolete. All transfers of funds must be electronic, as any physical form can be replicated and is therefore worthless.
But what do we need "money" for at this point anyway?
> Goods never wear out, as they can be molecularly "renewed" periodically.
> Pollution is ended by recycling vitually everything. There is no such thing as trash, only raw materials.

Is this not a better "system of management of resources"!

[Redwolf]

Ahh, I see your point. I guess it would work, you could 'liscense' products like software, but then it gets a bit confusing. Maybe there will be a Nanapster or something LOL, that would be sweet!

Other than that...

[Warthog]

only about 15-25 years off

hehe yeah like in 1950, we'd all have personal helicopters as our method of transportation by the 1990's

...and I never partied like it was 1999 either......grr

Warthog

[Theophylact]

Redwolf, it's not as though Microsoft makes money selling things, any more than Hollywood does. The profit isn't in tonnage any more, it's in value. Look at Pfizer and Pharmacia: they made $12 billion in profits last year on $48 billion in sales. Viagra, Lipitor, Zoloft, Celebrex -- these are all valuable intellectual properties, and when the patents expire, the same drugs will be worth a quarter of the price or less. The money is in brainpower, not steel. TechIMO members, of all people, should be most comfortable with that notion.