Nanotechnology, will it be suppressed?

Question

Nanotechnology has been on the forefront of many peoples minds for years. Scientists, engineers, and nonprofessionals are all working towards a goal of machines that are able to manipulate matter on a molecular or atomic scale. The possibilities are near endless with applications in medicine, construction, and even military. The US federal government has even started to develop laws to guide, limit, and institute the technology even if it may be years from fruition.
How can the common person expect to see a technology that could grind the global economies to a halt? Imagine having the capability to create food, clean water, and shelter from something self-replicating. Money would become meaningless. The people that have the capability to unleash the potential also stand to lose the most from it, how can we expect that to happen?

Answer 1

No a use can be found easy.

Answer 2

NC above is correct and nanotechnology is ludicrously over hyped. But to your philosophical idea that economies would grind to a halt if Nano COULD make economic staples become free and easily obtainable -- nonsense. This is what economists mean when they say people have unlimited wants.

In reality the economy would reorganize itself, and there would be huge new industries around people facilitating the use of Nanotechnology. Consumers would turn their attention to buying the things nanotechnology can't supply, and there would be huge demand for new services that perhaps we can't even imagine now. The same old story of now that we can satisfy our basic needs, we move up to desiring something else.

It's a timeworn statement but utterly true. Humans are a valuable resource, and there will always be a need to put them to do work that only humans can do. If you went back in time 250 years and told someone that only 2% of people today engage in farming, they could only imagine we suffer near-universal unemployment. They couldn't imagine how products and services undreamed of back then would occupy 98% of the labor force today.

Answer 3

Don't worry, it won't. It is no accident that Eric Drexler studied under Marvin Minsky at MIT. Nanotechnology is just another artificial intelligence -- tons of hype today, billions of dollars in grant money tomorrow, and ounces of practical application years later. In thirty years or so, Drexler (if he is still alive then) will utter something similar to Minsky's "common sense remains elusive", and the book on nanotechnology will be closed for good.

Also, note that even Eric Drexler agrees that nanotechnology in your definition ("machines that are able to manipulate matter on a molecular or atomic scale") is impossible:

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8148/8148counterpoint.html

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