nanotechnology

/nan'ohtekno`l@jee/ , n. A hypothetical fabrication technology in which
objects are designed and built with the individual specification and
placement of each separate atom. The first unequivocal nanofabrication
experiments took place in 1990, for example with the deposition of
individual xenon atoms on a nickel substrate to spell the logo of a certain
very large computer company. Nanotechnology has been a hot topic in the
hacker subculture ever since the term was coined by K. Eric Drexler in his
book Engines of Creation (Anchor/Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-19973-2), where he
predicted that nanotechnology could give rise to replicating assemblers,
permitting an exponential growth of productivity and personal wealth
(there's an authorized transcription at
http://www.foresight.org/EOC/index.html ). See also blue goo , gray goo ,
nanobot.

