≡ Libro Gratis Engines of Creation KEric Drexler 9780192861498 Books

Engines of Creation KEric Drexler 9780192861498 Books

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Engines of Creation KEric Drexler 9780192861498 Books

I read this when it was first published back in '86 and it was such an astounding book I bought at least another half dozen to give to people I thought would appreciate the message being delivered.

It's also available online as a download for $1.00 from the author. The online edition also has some updates in it.


Tags : Engines of Creation [K.Eric Drexler] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,K.Eric Drexler,Engines of Creation,Oxford Paperbacks,0192861492,GRP10538495,Technology and Manufacturing,Nanotechnology,Science: General Issues

Engines of Creation KEric Drexler 9780192861498 Books Reviews

so scary but necessary to know what is really going on in our world--sad to say.must read.
Drexler's ideas are way ahead of his times but are coming more mainstream (read Stephenson's Diamond Age and Bear's Slant). Drexler is able to describe a coherent project plan to develop and implement the technology of the future. This book will inspire and amaze generations of engineers (and obviously, SF writers) for years to come. Although I don't see any reason for the existence of Universal Assemblers (I hope I'm wrong), Drexler describes reasonable rationals for future society-changing products.
The founder of the field of nanotechnology wrote this masterpiece, surely one of the best science books ever written on any subject. He even has a few paragraphs on memes! As you read this book, you find yourself drawn into Drexler's excitement about the technological utopia he predicts. We will live forever, be disease-free, and have nanomachines do everything for us. That is, until the nanoviruses appear...
--Richard Brodie, author, Virus of the Mind The New Science of the Meme
I read several books on nanotechnology that were both more recent and more technically realistic, but this book wowed me with both breadth and depth of vision. Few tomes compare in scope - Godel, Escher, and Bach perhaps? Ending Aging? There presently isn't anything like the clarion call to nanoscale research that this book represents, and it is not a definitive historical artifact for nothing.

This is about the best overview of the conceptual space of nanotechnology you can get right now - even after 24+ years. It's brilliant, it's conscise, it's visionary. It *is* a little much. Accept that and enjoy, and it may become your favorite popular science book.

I think much of what Drexler proposes is impossible - as impossible as full human consciousness emulation and interstellar travel anyway. It seems to annoy or overwhelm some readers that Drexler goes so far. It bothered me every now and then. Given a century or three, who knows. It's dubious science, as it reaches beyond tested theories, but it is *great* hard science fiction. Plenty of real science, and I found nothing truly erroneous.

If you are looking for something grittier, Drexler's newer books (and work) build on this. For second opinions I recommend Soft Machines and Nanomedicine basic capabilities - they are more scholarship oriented. Read Engines first it's hard to put down and it covers so much.

If you are interested in nanotechnology, read this book.
That is all.
Engines of Creation describes the foundations of and the issues surrounding humankind's increasing potential for building molecular machines. (Indeed as we stand here on the verge of 2008, notable accomplishments in nanotechnology continue to be made.) Drexler's "starter kit" comprises what he calls "universal assemblers," which are nanomachines designed for a simple task, such as replacing defective genetic links with healthful ones or bonding one cellular structure to another.

...I'm impressed with what the author and his peers have deeply pondered on preventing nanotechnological disasters, either from accident or from conscious intention of some malefactor. When one realizes a technology that can terraform planets can also readily destroy them... and us, one becomes a bit careful in how the technology is handled. The entire Part 3 of Drexler's book, "Engines of Destruction," is devoted to this issue.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007
If you were to ask the world's greatest authorities on modern technology to select the five most influential books written thus far on that subject, Engines of Creation would probably be on most (if not all) lists. In it, Drexler analyzes "the coming era of nanotechnology." Obviously, that era has (since 1986) arrived. Nonetheless, Drexler's observations remain both valid and instructive. The book is organized as Part One The Foundations of Foresight, Part Two Profiles of the Possible, and Part Three Dangers and Hopes. In certain respects, Engines of Creation is even more valuable today than it was when first published. It should be required reading for undergraduate and graduate students (especially those at work on a degree in engineering, the natural sciences, mathematics, or business) as well as for executives in organizations which hope to survive the "age of nanotechnology." Think of your organization as a vehicle. Viewed as such, it obviously needs an engine, fuel, a transmission, a brake, an accelerator, etc. Speed is only one component of the formula for success. Durability is another. For your organization to reach its destination, it must also have a map. Engines of Creation is about technology, of course, and it is also about innovation in an age when speed is often the difference between success and failure. But Drexler also provides the equivalent of a map to guide his reader. Misdirected speed can demolish an entire organization as well as a single vehicle....and those within it. Years from now, Engines of Creation will still be read and admired. Why? Because it will still be relevant.
pages are brown with age and the read is slow. It's interesting and informative and gives me a lot to consider and contemplate. I can't read more than a page or even a paragraph without having to stop and consider the impacts on life and my world. good book!
I read this when it was first published back in '86 and it was such an astounding book I bought at least another half dozen to give to people I thought would appreciate the message being delivered.

It's also available online as a download for $1.00 from the author. The online edition also has some updates in it.