[LINK] Of nomads and nanotech [Was: 'New mobile phones will double as credit cards']

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/Apr/29, at 12:16 AM, David Boxall wrote:
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>> On 2007/Apr/28, at 10:16 AM, Howard Lowndes wrote:
>>> Ivan Trundle wrote:
> ...
>>> I notice that my local Telstra Shop (Albury) has an in-store  
>>> clear dump bin for discarded mobile phones.
>>
>> Actually I believe it's the law now that companies selling phones  
>> have to take them and the batteries back for "recycling" or  
>> "proper disposal" or whatever.
>>
> An interesting sidelight (pun intended) <http://www.abc.net.au/ 
> science/news/stories/2007/1907341.htm>:
> "People also wanted the units to be able to charge up their mobile  
> phones"
>
> The focus of molecular nanotechnology is the manufacture of goods  
> from the molecular level.  To me, the more interesting promise is  
> the opposite: destruction to that level.  If we could dismantle  
> stuff down to individual atoms, it would be much easier to recycle  
> the raw materials.  It would be the end of trash.

Toner (The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson)

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=227
> "See, there's mites around all the time. They use sparkles to talk  
> to each other," Harv explained. "They're in the food and water,  
> everywhere. And there's rules that these mites are supposed to  
> follow. They're supposed to break down into safe pieces... But  
> there are people who break those rules [so the] Protocol  
> Enforcement guys make a mite to go out and find that mite and kill  
> it. This dust - we call it toner - is actually the dead bodies of  
> all those mites.
> From The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson.
> Published by Bantam Books in 1995

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/000390.html
> If you've read Neal Stephenson's brilliant novel The Diamond Age,  
> you will certainly remember his description of "toner wars" --  
> clouds of carbon-based nanoparticles fighting it out as tools of  
> economic or political dominance. Breathing in the microscopic  
> machines wasn't good for you, but that was related to the various  
> nasty things that the overly-aggressive nanoassemblers might do  
> once in your system. In reality, the danger from such a threat  
> would may have more to do simply with how small they are.

--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961