February 26, 2005: Nanotechnology - Douglas Mulhall

Art Bell speaks with Douglas Mulhall, author and technology futurist, about the approaching revolution in nanotechnology and its potential to reshape civilization. Mulhall describes molecular assemblers capable of building objects atom by atom, from replacement organs to aerospace materials, and estimates these devices could become functional within fifteen to twenty years. He explains how early versions already exist in nature as ribosomes, the cellular machines that assemble proteins from genetic instructions.

The conversation turns to the risks of self-replicating nanobots, the so-called gray goo scenario popularized by Eric Drexler. Mulhall argues the greater danger lies not in runaway machines but in the economic disruption caused by desktop manufacturing that could make entire industries obsolete overnight. He describes how molecular fabrication would eliminate scarcity of most physical goods, potentially destabilizing economies built on resource extraction and mass production.

Art presses Mulhall on the implications for medicine, and Mulhall describes nanoscale devices already being tested that can deliver drugs directly to cancer cells, repair damaged tissue from the inside, and eventually reverse the aging process at the cellular level. The discussion also covers quantum computing, the challenge of programming machines that operate at the atomic scale, and whether nanotechnology could provide the clean energy breakthrough needed to avert a global resource crisis.