We can see the change in other fields as well. Computing power and software that were once only the musings of science fiction writers are now commodities. Intel founder Gordon Moore first described this technological ramping-up back in the 1960s.
I’d like to point out, however, that the principle of technological improvement through increasing smallness extends to a much larger field than semiconductors. Tininess is touching on many industries.
We are witnessing a growing ability to precisely manipulate and assemble materials at a scale measured in nanometers. As you know, a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and comes from the Greek root for “dwarf.”
Technology that operates at this scale is called nanotechnology. Increasingly, it is blurring the lines between different technological and scientific fields. Instead of fumbling with matter at the macro scale, we are developing the ability to build things at the molecular level. This was the subject of Nobel laureate Richard Feynman’s famous 1959 talk There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom. We are starting to do many of the things dreamed by Feynman, who is considered the father of nanotechnology.
In doing so, nanotechnology is helping us to solve problems and improve life. In fact, our ability to manipulate matter at the most basic level is already changing the way we do nearly everything. New breakthroughs in medicine, energy and electronics will be driven because of the nanotechnology revolution.
The importance of this change to civilization is like the discovery of fire or metallurgy. Future historians will point to the nanotech shift taking place sometime in the late 20th/early 21st centuries. Visionary investors that cash in on this shift will turn tiny investments into huge fortunes.
New products will be radically different from anything we have yet seen. This is true even if they are manufactured out of otherwise common elements. In nature, for example, we see how substances have very different physical properties depending on how the atoms are organized.
Let me give one example. In one form, carbon is soft. Called graphite, it is inexpensive, and it comes apart very easily. This makes it useful in lead pencils or as a lubricant. However, when the carbon atoms are bound together in a slightly different way, they form diamond, the hardest naturally occurring substance (and expensive, too).
Yet nanotechnology has given us the ability to design carbon arrangements not found in nature. In recent years, researchers have learned to assemble carbon atoms together into brand-new shapes. Two of these, carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets, are the strongest substances known. They also have many other unique properties that are only beginning to be profitably exploited.
True to Moore’s prediction, nanotechnology already affects the computer chip industry in a big way. Chip fabricators constantly pack more and more increasingly tiny elements on a silicon wafer. While working at the nanometer scale, however, chip fabrication is normally done by cutting or etching a base material.
Eventually, physical limits to how small we can build this way will be reached. In the future, instead of removing material, computer components will be grown from individual molecules. This will not only extend Moore’s Law for some time to come, but it will create completely new kinds of computers. At these smaller scales, quantum effects become more important. Computers that harness these quantum effects will be far more powerful than anything available today.
Biotechnology, by the way, has been a nanotechnology in practice long before it became a buzzword. Few areas are feeling the impact of nanotechnology right now more than medicine. The discovery of the DNA molecule in the 1950s and the development of ways to read and manipulate it have set the stage for huge advances.
Nanotechnology is a natural avenue for medical advancement, since our bodies are built out of nanomachine-cells. Improved instruments and models for understanding how these biological nanomachines work, have opened new avenues for treating disease.
This means that the human cell is no longer a black box. We not only know far more about what is going on inside cells, we can also control what they do. Nanotechnology is unlocking the secrets of cellular biology and turning the cell into a cornucopia. This is literally true when it comes to agricultural sciences.
The increased knowledge of how cells function at the molecular level allows us to create computer simulations about how they work. This greatly speeds up drug discovery compared to traditional laboratory techniques. Rather than randomly testing existing compounds, custom molecules are being discovered that selectively target only the parts of the cell that we want to modify to cure disease.
Molecular nanotechnology is designing carrier molecules that can transport therapeutic drugs directly into cells. There, they provide the greatest benefit while minimizing side effects. Researchers are even developing the ability to control how genes are expressed in individual cells. This creates opportunities for curing the majority of genetically caused human diseases.
Also developing are therapies that can create new young cells out of adult stem cells. These cells can be used to regenerate damaged tissue. Additionally, nanotechnology raises the possibility of reversing the cellular aging process by repairing molecular damage inside the cells themselves.
Pathological nano-machines, known as viruses, are being targeted as well. Some of the worst ones that have eluded us for decades will be curable.
The entire technology landscape holds enormous promise and fantastic investment opportunities are being created.
I trust this post has provided some background and evidence that powerful efforts are underway with breakthrough technology for nanotech and biotech. These activities will soon provide alternative wealth creating opportunities and our economy will become significantly stronger.
I favor a quote from Steve Forbes. Forbes says that pursuing additional financial education and the resulting increase in our financial literacy (including the investment potential of breakthrough technology) will open our eyes to alternative wealth creating strategies and this will be the key to resolving our global financial crisis.
To gain the necessary financial education, it is best to obtain association with, access to, and membership in a wealth creation community. As a result, you will learn and have the knowledge to use alternative wealth creating strategies such as Bank on Yourself, debt reduction, and asset protection. You will be exposed to wealth acceleration investments in areas (discussed in this and previous blog posts) such as nanotech being applied to biotech, biotech and nanotech converging with the semiconductor industry, electric cars, new access to space, 3D virtual technology, atomically precise manufacturing, nuclear power generation, commercial space ventures, Carrier Ethernet technologies, nanotech lithography, robotics, nano-based next-generation battery technology, precious metals, water rights, oil, natural gas, potash mines, food commodities, and gold mines. You will have the knowledge to consider investments in assets that are inherently useful like oil rigs, hydropower, or methanol plants; things that are hard to build, difficult to replace, and costly to substitute; definitely not financial stocks, definitely not retail stocks, definitely not commercial property.
Another benefit of membership in a wealth creation community is exposure to entrepreneurial leadership and business opportunities. Many of these leaders suggest that if you don’t focus on being a digital entrepreneur, being self-employed, or being a small business owner, it will be a very tough road in the months and years ahead; actually it will be an uphill battle. As a result, the innovative wealth creation communities provide education and training on B2B, and B2C, eCommerce enabling a new breed of professionals that are creating six figure second incomes.
It is wise to monitor breakthrough technology as there are truly exciting developments underway with nanotech and biotech related business activities. I will continue to monitor developments and provide updates in future articles and at my blog.
Finally, I want to thank Patrick Cox of Agora Financial as he was the source of some of the materials about the technology advancements mentioned in this post.
In closing, be sure to Read More of my Posts at aspenIbiz blogspot, my Internet Marketing blog; Obtain Some Tips About Being No 1 on Google at aspenIbiz My Go-To-Market Partners, my Affiliate website; Learn How to be Savvy with Your Money Like the Insiders at aspenIbiz The Conspiracy For Your Money Blog, and How to Live Longer at aspenIbiz My Life’s Advantage Today site.