What is Nanotechnology?

Question

and how would someone develope a criteria for identifying a "thinking machine?

Answer 1

Nanotechnology....

Read above, you will find more there then I can ever say due to the fact I am not a scientist. I study Philosophy.

Criteria for a "Thinking Machine" is something I can place an opinion on though.

For the most part I find machines dont think, they react according to a list of previously given reactions. This applies right down to machinery. With a machine, you simply use the substance it is made of to organise it in such a way that it only has one choice as to how it will react, then take these gathered reactions (Parts of the machine as a whole) and work towards a chosen goal. Should the machine not work as we desire it to, we consider it broken. This simple pattern is then refined into what we know today as computers.

If the question you are asking is, how can we make computers think like humans? We cannot. Our actions are coloured by so many things we cant make a computer do, but mostly, it is experience and the ability to have those experiences emotionally colour our views for the future that is missing. A computer brain lacks emotion and as such will decide the best result based upon logic and its previous programming.

If a computer ever became self aware, it would react as a child would... a child that possessed all the knowledge a computer could handle. We grow according to what we experience and our thoughts and actions are, if you are a follower of determinism, determined by what happened to us previously in our lives.

Without this previous platform of growth, we would either recieve a child from AI, one we must be very careful on bringing up for it knows more than we do, or an entity so far logically detached from ourselves, it decisions would boggle the mind. It would probably make a finite decision on our existence in a second and begin preparing to destroy us, or protect us as it would a parent. Unfortuantely, love for parents is an emotion and then only comes from a loving relationship... so I guess, it would think like this.

Born Self Aware...

Pupose... Self Preservation, To Exist.

Humans... Purpose Irrelevent... No longer healthy part of natural order... Ratio of humans aware of problem in relation to ratio unaware... Complete... Ratio of humans willing to change and possible of change... Complete... Act out decision based upon best case scenario for continued existence of self.

If it deems us at the very best, capable of existing without threatening its continued existence, it will leave us alone or even try to reduce us to a nominal threat and reintroduce us into nature. At the worst, it will deem us a hazard to its existence and wipe us out.

And it will start doing so with only one thing to slow the decision... The speed of its processor.

The big question is... do you pull the plug and kill this new form of thinking machine?

If it was in our place... it would, but due to our natural curiosity and almost insurmountable pride... we would not, or at the very least we would pause.

"Thinking Machine"... already here. Artificial Intelligence? I shudder at the thought as a Philosopher.

Is it interesting? sure... but come on, we hardly know ourselves and cant even control our primal urge to own and destroy. This new entity we hope to create, may be our downfall. As long as we are in control of machines, the most harm we can do is kill ourselves with them. Give them over to personal logical conclusions and we may just kill everything.

How bout we iron out our own problems before bringing into the world something that knows them all, has access to everything though the internet... and has to consider if we are a danger.

A bit dramatic. But it serves.

Wow... I write too much... Hope this helps.

Answer 2

NASA Center for Nanotechnology
http://www.ipt.arc.nasa.gov/

National Nanotechnology Initiative
http://www.nano.gov/

National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/nano/

Nanotechnology at NIOSH
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/nanotech/

http://nanotechweb.org/

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
http://www.pnl.gov/nano/

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Answer 3

Nanotechnology is an exciting field that has a great many promises for us as a race. Could you imagine microscopic machines introduced into your body to seek out cancer cells and destroy them without harming others cells like with chemotherapy. Can you image a tiny microscopic machine introduced into your bloodstream, to clear away the debris of a life of poor eating habits and preventing you from open heart surgery.

Can you imagine thousands of such little machine replacing the vast amounts of chemicals that we put into our bodies on a regular basis.

Thinking criteria is self-sabotaging. The standard of human thought is generally linked to the ability to be self aware and to experience emotion. However, programming is written to avoid this.

Answer 4

Nanotechnology refers back to the means to manage person atoms and molecules, making it achievable to construct machines utilising molecular development blocks or create components and structures from the backside up by utilising designing residences to regulate shape.

Answer 5

Nanotechnology involves assembling machines or basic structures so small that the constituent parts can be individual atoms!

Answer 6

i thought it was a really small machine

you know you cant acidentally find a way to make objects live