The Council for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) recently ran an article entitled "Nano-Robots Good and Bad." The article updates CRN’s 2005 article "Nanobots Not Needed" and attempts to present a balanced forecast of whether, when, and how fully functioning nanoscale machines might be developed. The article cites two professors at the University of Denver who believe that molecule-sized robots will be a reality within the next five years and will be used to do everything from cure diseases to warn of imminent bridge collapses. According to CRN, the major obstacle in the treatment of diseases is "teaching the robots which cells to attack." The article also briefly delves into Ray Kurzweil’s ideas regarding "intelligent nanorobots" going "into our brains through capillaries and internet directly with out biological neurons." Hard to tell the good nano-robots from the bad in Kurzweil’s scenario. Apparently, Kurzweil also believes nanorobots will "make us smarter, remember things better and automatically go into full emergent virtual reality environments through the neurons system." No word on how many times Kurzweil has watched the "Matrix" trilogy which clearly seems where the nano-future he envisions is heading.
