What if molecular manufacturing and its products replace modern technology? If they don’t then the question merely invites an entertaining and mind stretching exercise. But if they do then working out good answers in advance may tip the balance in making decisions that determine the fate of the world. Technology is a product of industry manufacturing and chemical engineering. Industry takes things from nature – ore from mountains trees from forests and coerces them into forms that someone considers useful. Trees become lumber then houses. Mountains become rubble then molten iron then steel then cars. Sand becomes a purified gas then silicon then chips and so it goes. Each process is crude based on cutting stirring baking spraying etching grinding and the like. However to make wood and leaves Nanotechnology does none of these. By studying the molecular structure it simply uses molecular machines powered by Solar energy that convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and molecular building blocks. These blocks then join to form roots trunks branches twigs solar collectors and more machinery. Every tree makes leaves and each leaf is more sophisticated than a spacecraft more finely patterned than the latest chip from Silicon Valley. They do all this without noise heat toxic fumes or human labor and they consume pollutants as they go. Viewed this way the trees are a form of highly advanced technology. This book sheds light on the various processes and uses of Nanotechnology.
