Future Current

Ralph Merkle is a pioneer in public key cryptography and an expert on the emerging technological applications of molecular nanotechnology and cryonics. He is a key member of the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, part of the Nanofactory Collaboration. In the popular science fiction novel The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, Dr. Merkle is portrayed as one of the heroes of a future civilization where nanotechnology is ubiquitous. At the CRN conference on the Future of Nano and Bio he spoke on the subject of “A Minimal Toolset for Diamond Mechanosynthesis,” a paper with Robert Freitas on molecular nanotechnology scheduled to be published in JCTN (Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience).

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At the 2007 Foresight Vision Weekend, Ralph Merkle and Robert Freitas in a joint session discussed research toward diamond mechanosynthesis. The two co-founders of the Nanofactory Collaboration offered a preview their recently accepted paper “A minimal toolset for diamond mechanosynthesis” to be published in JCTN (Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience). The talk included a description of nine molecular tools and all reaction pathways involved in their synthesis from raw materials. This took the co-authors three years to finish, and they view it as the critical next step in developing molecular nanotechnology for atomically-precise manufacturing.

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