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Kim Eric Drexler (born April 25, 1955) is an American engineer best known for studies of the potential of
molecular nanotechnology Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is a technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is distinct from nanoscale materials. Based on Richard Feynman's vision of miniatur ...
(MNT), from the 1970s and 1980s. His 1991 doctoral thesis at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
was revised and published as the book ''Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery Manufacturing and Computation'' (1992), which received the
Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.


Life and work

K. Eric Drexler was strongly influenced by ideas on
limits to growth ''The Limits to Growth'' (''LTG'') is a 1972 report that discussed the possibility of exponential economic and population growth with finite supply of resources, studied by computer simulation. The study used the World3 computer model to simula ...
in the early 1970s. During his first year at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, he sought out someone who was working on extraterrestrial resources. He found Gerard K. O'Neill of
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, a physicist famous for his work on
storage ring A storage ring is a type of circular particle accelerator in which a continuous or pulsed particle beam may be kept circulating typically for many hours. Storage of a particular particle depends upon the mass, momentum and usually the charge of t ...
s for
particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle ...
s and his landmark work on the concepts of
space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territor ...
. Drexler participated in NASA summer studies on space colonies in 1975 and 1976. He fabricated metal films a few tens of nanometers thick on a wax support to demonstrate the potentials of high-performance
solar sails Solar sails (also known as light sails and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large mirrors. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigation have been p ...
. He was active in space politics, helping the
L5 Society The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn Meinel and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill. In 1987, the L5 Society merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. Name The name ...
defeat the Moon Treaty in 198

Besides working summers for O'Neill, building
mass driver A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. Existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by e ...
prototypes, Drexler delivered papers at the first three
Space Manufacturing Space manufacturing is the production of tangible goods beyond Earth. Since most production capabilities are limited to low Earth orbit, the term in-orbit manufacturing is also frequently used. There are several rationales supporting in-space ...
conferences at Princeton. The 1977 and 1979 papers were co-authored with
Keith Henson Howard Keith Henson (born 1942) is an American electrical engineer and writer. Henson writes on subjects including space engineering, space law ( Moon treaty), memetics, cryonics, evolutionary psychology, and the physical limitations of Transh ...
, and patents were issued on both subjects, vapor phase fabrication and space radiators. During the late 1970s, Drexler began to develop ideas about
molecular nanotechnology Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is a technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is distinct from nanoscale materials. Based on Richard Feynman's vision of miniatur ...
(MNT). In 1979, he encountered
Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of the superfl ...
's provocative 1959 talk "
There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom: An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics" was a lecture given by physicist Richard Feynman at the annual American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959. Feynman considered the possibi ...
." In 1981, Drexler wrote a seminal research article, published by PNAS, "Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation". This article has continued to be cited, more than 620 times, during the following 35 years. The term "
nano-technology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
" had been coined by the
Tokyo University of Science , formerly "Science University of Tokyo" or TUS, informally or simply is a private research university located in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. History Tokyo University of Science was founded in 1881 as The Tokyo Academy of Physics by 21 graduates ...
professor
Norio Taniguchi was a professor of Tokyo University of Science. He coined the term '' nano-technology'' in 1974 N. Taniguchi, "On the Basic Concept of 'Nano-Technology'," Proc. Intl. Conf. Prod. Eng. Tokyo, Part II, Japan Society of Precision Engineering, 1974 ...
in 1974 to describe the precision manufacture of materials with nanometer tolerances, and Drexler unknowingly used a related term in his 1986 book '' Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology'' to describe what later became known as
molecular nanotechnology Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is a technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is distinct from nanoscale materials. Based on Richard Feynman's vision of miniatur ...
(MNT). In that book, he proposed the idea of a nanoscale "assembler" which would be able to build a copy of itself and of other items of arbitrary complexity. He also first published the term "
grey goo Gray goo (also spelled as grey goo) is a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating machines consume all biomass on Earth while building many more of themselves, a sce ...
" to describe what might happen if a hypothetical self-replicating molecular nanotechnology went out of control. He has subsequently tried to clarify his concerns about out-of-control self-replicators, and make the case that molecular manufacturing does not require such devices. He is currently a research fellow at the
Future of Humanity Institute The Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Oxford investigating big-picture questions about humanity and its prospects. It was founded in 2005 as part of the Faculty of Philosophy and t ...
where his focus is on
superintelligence A superintelligence is a hypothetical agent that possesses intelligence far surpassing that of the brightest and most gifted human minds. "Superintelligence" may also refer to a property of problem-solving systems (e.g., superintelligent languag ...
.


Education

Drexler holds three degrees from
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. He received his
B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
in Interdisciplinary Sciences in 1977 and his
M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
in 1979 in Astro/Aerospace Engineering with a Master's thesis titled "Design of a High Performance Solar Sail System." In 1991, he earned a
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
through the
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
(formally, the Media Arts and Sciences Section, School of Architecture and Planning) after the department of electrical engineering and
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
refused to approve Drexler's plan of study. His Ph.D. work was the first doctoral degree on the topic of molecular nanotechnology and his thesis, "Molecular Machinery and Manufacturing with Applications to Computation," was published (with minor editing) as ''Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing and Computation'' (1992), which received the Association of American Publishers award for Best Computer Science Book of 1992.


Personal life

Drexler was married to Christine Peterson for 21 years. The marriage ended in 2002. In 2006, Drexler married Rosa Wang, a former investment banker who works with Ashoka: Innovators for the Public on improving the social capital markets. Drexler has arranged to be cryonically preserved in the event of
legal death Legal death is the recognition under the law of a particular jurisdiction that a person is no longer alive. In most cases, a doctor's declaration of death (variously called) or the identification of a corpse is a legal requirement for such recognit ...
.


Reception

Drexler's work on nanotechnology was criticized as naive by
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner
Richard Smalley Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005) was an American chemist who was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy at Rice University. In 1996, along with Robert Curl, also a professor of c ...
in a 2001 ''
Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...
'' article. Smalley first argued that "fat fingers" made MNT impossible. He later argued that nanomachines would have to resemble chemical enzymes more than Drexler's assemblers and could only work in water. Drexler maintained that both were
straw man A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false o ...
arguments, and in the case of enzymes, wrote that "Prof. Klibanov wrote in 1994, ' ... using an enzyme in organic solvents eliminates several obstacles ... '" Drexler had difficulty in getting Smalley to respond, but in December 2003, Chemical and Engineering news carried a four-part debate.
Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...
disputes Smalley's arguments. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, in its 2006 review of the
National Nanotechnology Initiative The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is a research and development initiative which provides a framework to coordinate nanoscale research and resources among United States federal government agencies and departments. History Mihail ...
, argues that it is difficult to predict the future capabilities of nanotechnology:


In science fiction

Drexler is mentioned in Neal Stephenson's
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
novel ''
The Diamond Age ''The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Neal Stephenson. It is to some extent a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story, focused on a young girl named Nell, set in a future world in ...
'' as one of the heroes of a future world where nanotechnology is ubiquitous. In the science fiction novel '' Newton's Wake'' by
Ken MacLeod Kenneth Macrae MacLeod (born 2 August 1954) is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels ''The Sky Road'' and ''The Night Sessions'' won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, an ...
, a 'drexler' is a nanotech assembler of pretty much anything that can fit in the volume of the particular machine—from socks to starships. Drexler is also mentioned in the science fiction book ''
Decipher DECIPHER is a web-based resource and database of genomic variation data from analysis of patient DNA. It documents submicroscopic chromosome abnormalities ( microdeletions and duplications) and pathogenic sequence variants (single nucleotide ...
'' by
Stel Pavlou Stelios Grant Pavlou (born 22 November 1970) is a British screenwriter and speculative fiction novelist. He is known for writing the novel ''Decipher'' and the screenplay for the film ''The 51st State''. Personal life Pavlou was born in Kent, En ...
; his book is mentioned as one of the starting points of nanomachine construction, as well as giving a better understanding of the way carbon 60 was to be applied.
James Rollins James Paul Czajkowski (born August 20, 1961), better known by his pen name of James Rollins, is an American veterinarian and writer of action-adventure/thriller, mystery, and techno-thriller novels who gave up his veterinary practice in Sacra ...
references Drexler's ''Engines of Creation'' in his novel ''Excavation'', using his theory of a molecular machine in two sections as a possible explanation for the mysterious "Substance Z" in the story. Drexler gets a mention in
Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
's '' Design for Dying'' in the "Mutation" section, briefly detailing the
8-circuit model of consciousness The eight-circuit model of consciousness is a holistic model originally described by Timothy Leary, later expanded on by Robert Anton Wilson and Antero Alli, that suggests "eight periods ircuitsand twenty-four stages of neurological evolution". ...
(pg. 91). Drexler is mentioned in
DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
' ''
Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appe ...
'' vol. 2, #57 (published July 1992). Drexler is mentioned in Michael Crichton's 2002 novel ''
Prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...
'' in the introduction (pg xii). The Drexler Facility (''ドレクサー機関'') of molecular nanotechnology research in the Japanese
eroge An ''eroge'' ( or , ''erogē''; ; a portmanteau of ''erotic game'' , ''erochikku gēmu'') is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. In 1982, Japan's Koei, founded by husband-and-wife team Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa (and later known for strate ...
visual novels A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
''
Baldr Sky is a duology of Japanese adult visual novels with 2D action elements developed by Giga. The series characterizes itself as a cyberpunk action adventure game. The first game, named ''Baldr Sky Dive1 "Lost Memory”'' was released in Japan on Mar ...
'' is named after him. The "Assemblers" are its key invention.


Works

* '' Engines of Creation'' (1986) ** Availabl
online at e-drexler.com
dead link ** Available online in Chinese a

** Available online in Italian a
MOTORI DI CREAZIONE: L’era prossima della nanotecnologia
* The Canvas of the Night (1990), (ar) Project Solar Sail, ed. Arthur C. Clarke, NAL/Roc () Science Fiction. * ''Unbounding the Future'' (1991; with
Christine Peterson Christine Peterson is an American forecaster, and the co-founder of Foresight Institute. She is credited with suggesting the term "open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistrib ...
and Gayle Pergamit) () ** Available online with free download a
Unbounding the Future: the Nanotechnology Revolution


(1992) ** Sample chapters and a table of contents are availabl

** Drexler's doctoral thesis, ''Molecular Machinery and Manufacturing with Applications to Computation'', an earlier version of the text that became ''Nanosystems'', is availabl
online
* ''Engines of Creation 2.0: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology - Updated and Expanded'', K. Eric Drexler, 647 pages, (February 2007) * ''Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization'', May 7, 2013, * ''Reframing Superintelligence: Comprehensive AI Services as General Intelligence'', K. Eric Drexler, Technical Report #2019-1, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, 210 pages (2019


See also

* Chemical vapor deposition, a type of "vapor phase fabrication" *
Foresight Institute The Foresight Institute (Foresight) is a San Francisco-based research non-profit that promotes the development of nanotechnology and other emerging technologies, such as safe AGI, biotech and longevity. Foresight runs four cross-disciplinary pr ...


References


Further reading


"The Creator": Interview with Eric Drexler by Michael Berry, 1991
* ''Nano: The Emerging Science of Nanotechnology'' by Ed Regis, 1995.

* [https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/drexler.html "The Incredible Shrinking Man: K. Eric Drexler was the godfather of nanotechnology. But the MIT prodigy who dreamed up molecular machines was shoved aside by big science - and now he's an industry outcast." Ed Regis, Wired Magazine, Issue 12.10, October 2004] * ''Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition'' by Ed Regis, 1990.


External links

*
Who's Who in the Nanospace
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drexler, K. Eric 1955 births Living people 21st-century American engineers American nanotechnologists American non-fiction environmental writers American transhumanists MIT School of Engineering alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni