K. Eric Drexler | |
|---|---|
 Eric Drexler in 2013 | |
| Born | (1955-04-25)April 25, 1955 (age 69) Alameda, California, U.S. |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MS, PhD) |
| Known for | Foresight Institute |
| Spouses | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Engineering,molecular nanotechnology |
| Thesis | Molecular Machinery and Manufacturing With Applications to Computation (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | Marvin Minsky |
Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for introducingmolecular nanotechnology (MNT), and his studies of its potential from the 1970s and 1980s.[1] His 1991 doctoral thesis atMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was revised and published as the bookNanosystems: Molecular Machinery Manufacturing and Computation (1992), which received theAssociation of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992. He has been called the "godfather of nanotechnology".[2]
K. Eric Drexler was strongly influenced by ideas onlimits to growth in the early 1970s. During his first year atMassachusetts Institute of Technology, he sought out someone who was working onextraterrestrial resources. He foundGerard K. O'Neill ofPrinceton University, a physicist famous for his work onstorage rings forparticle accelerators and his landmark work on the concepts ofspace colonization. Drexler participated in NASA summer studies on space colonies in 1975 and 1976. He fabricated metalthin films a few tens of nanometers thick on a wax support to demonstrate the potentials of high-performancesolar sails. He was active in space politics, helping theL5 Society defeat theMoon Treaty in 1980.[3] Besides working summers for O'Neill, buildingmass driver prototypes, Drexler delivered papers at the first threeSpace Manufacturing conferences at Princeton. The 1977 and 1979 papers were co-authored withKeith Henson, and patents were issued on both subjects, vapor phase fabrication and space radiators.
During the late 1970s, Drexler began to develop ideas aboutmolecular nanotechnology (MNT). In 1979, he encounteredRichard Feynman's provocative 1959 talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom". In 1981, Drexler wrote a seminal research article, published byPNAS, "Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation".[4] This article has continued to be cited, more than 620 times, during the following 35 years.[5]
The term "nano-technology" had been coined by theTokyo University of Science professorNorio Taniguchi in 1974 to describe the precision manufacture of materials with nanometer tolerances, and Drexler unknowingly used a related term in his 1986 bookEngines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology to describe what later became known asmolecular nanotechnology (MNT). In that book, he proposed the idea of a nanoscale "assembler" which would be able to build a copy of itself and of other items of arbitrary complexity. He also first published the term "grey goo" to describe what might happen if a hypothetical self-replicating molecular assembler went out of control. He has subsequently tried to clarify his concerns about out-of-control self-replicators, and make the case that molecular manufacturing does not require such devices.[6]
Drexler holds three degrees fromMIT. He received hisB.S. in Interdisciplinary Sciences in 1977 and hisM.S. in 1979 inAstro/Aerospace Engineering with a master's thesis titled "Design of a High Performance Solar Sail System". In 1991, he earned aPh.D. through theMIT Media Lab (formally, the Media Arts and Sciences Section, School of Architecture and Planning) after the department ofelectrical engineering andcomputer science refused to approve Drexler's plan of study.[7]
His Ph.D. work was the first doctoral degree on the topic of molecular nanotechnology and his thesis, "Molecular Machinery and Manufacturing with Applications to Computation", was published (with minor editing) asNanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation (1992), which received the Association of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.
In 1981, Drexler marriedChristine Peterson. The marriage ended in 2002.
In 2006, Drexler married Rosa Wang, a formerinvestment banker who works withAshoka: Innovators for the Public on improving thesocial capital markets.
Drexler has arranged to becryonically preserved in the event oflegal death.[8]
Drexler's work on nanotechnology was criticized as naive byNobel Prize winnerRichard Smalley in a 2001Scientific American article. Smalley first argued that "fat fingers" made MNT impossible. He later argued that nanomachines would have to resemble chemicalenzymes more than Drexler's assemblers and could only work in water. Drexler maintained that both werestraw man arguments, and in the case of enzymes, wrote that "Prof.Klibanov wrote in 1994, ' ... using an enzyme in organicsolvents eliminates several obstacles ... '"[9] Drexler had difficulty in getting Smalley to respond, but in December 2003, Chemical and Engineering news carried a four-part debate.[10]Ray Kurzweil disputes Smalley's arguments.[11]
TheNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in its 2006 review of theNational Nanotechnology Initiative, argues that it is difficult to predict the future capabilities of nanotechnology:[12]
Although theoretical calculations can be made today, the eventually attainable range of chemical reaction cycles, error rates, speed of operation, and thermodynamic efficiencies of such bottom-up manufacturing systems cannot be reliably predicted at this time. Thus, the eventually attainable perfection and complexity of manufactured products, while they can be calculated in theory, cannot be predicted with confidence. Finally, the optimum research paths that might lead to systems which greatly exceed the thermodynamic efficiencies and other capabilities of biological systems cannot be reliably predicted at this time. Research funding that is based on the ability of investigators to produce experimental demonstrations that link to abstract models and guide long-term vision is most appropriate to achieve this goal.[12]
Drexler is mentioned inNeal Stephenson'sscience fiction novelThe Diamond Age as one of the heroes of a future world where nanotechnology is ubiquitous.[13]
In the science fiction novelNewton's Wake byKen MacLeod, a 'drexler' is a nanotech assembler of pretty much anything that can fit in the volume of the particular machine—from socks to starships.[14]
Drexler is also mentioned in the science fiction bookDecipher byStel Pavlou; his book is mentioned as one of the starting points of nanomachine construction, as well as giving a better understanding of the waycarbon 60 was to be applied.[15]
James Rollins references Drexler'sEngines of Creation in his novelExcavation, using his theory of a molecular machine in two sections as a possible explanation for the mysterious "Substance Z" in the story.[16]
Drexler gets a mention inTimothy Leary'sDesign for Dying in the "Mutation" section, briefly detailing the8-circuit model of consciousness (pg. 91).[17]
Drexler is mentioned inDC Comics'Doom Patrol vol. 2, #57 (published July 1992).[18]
Drexler is mentioned in Michael Crichton's 2002 novelPrey in the introduction (pg xii).[19]
The Drexler Facility (ドレクサー機関) of molecular nanotechnology research in the Japaneseerogevisual novelsBaldr Sky is named after him. The "Assemblers" are its key invention.[20]
