assembler). These replicators would be programmed to build assemblers. A hundred trillion of these machines can fill an area smaller than a sugar cube–that is true efficiency and space saving.
In theory, eventually, we will be able to replicate anything, including diamonds, water and food. Machines that fabricate foods to feed the hungry could eradicate famine. The common cold would be eliminated with assassin nanomachines that work as anti-viruses–like specialized white-blood cells. The threat of mutually assured destruction through a nano-war would cause a stalemate end to war. Oil spills would be easily dispersed into simple elements by assemblers. The ozone layer could be re-assembled by these machines. Surgery could be performed on a nano-scale, constant cell construction and machinated reproduction could extend one’s life-span! The theoretical abilities of assemblers, dissemblers, rearrangers, and replicators allow for limitless applications.
The NASA Ames Center for Nanotechnology currently has 40 scientists including physicists, chemists, molecular biologists, material scientists, EEs, ChEs, ME, and a hematologist. These scientists predict that the applications of nanotechnology are only 15 years ahead into the future. In 15 years, I will be 32 and still very young. By the time I am studying for my Ph. D. These technologies should be fully attainable and a popular research field. My experience leads me to believe that I have every opportunity to play a key role in contributing to the benefits of nanotechnology.
I have had an intense love for physics since my 8th grade year when I was first introduced to F=ma and Newton’s other laws. I was absolutely amazed by the fact that every force had an equal and opposite reaction. I would not fully understand that concept until my 10th grade honors Pre-IB physics I course, but my interests were sparked. I have always enjoyed learning and my pursuit of knowledge has led me to study two years of biology (Biology I Honors Pre-IB, and Biology at SCC this year), one year of chemistry (Chemistry I Honors Pre-IB, but hopefully more to come), and I have taken every single math course I could get my hands onto all at the competition level (Algebra I honors/gifted, Algebra II Honors Pre-IB, Geometry & Trigonometry Honors Pre-IB, Calculus at Seminole Community College, AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, IB Math Higher Level, AP Statistics, Statistical Methods at Seminole Community College). I have been competitive in both mathematics and science: brain bowl, science bowl, science Olympiad, JETS, Math Counts, and Mu Alpha Theta. As a result, I feel like my small reserve of knowledge is always hungry for additional understanding of the world we live in through mathematical and scientific concepts. I have told myself that it is completely possible to understand this world through science and mathematics within one lifetime (however that cannot be completed without help from other knowledgeable individuals).
Reading about nanotechnology excited me because my generation is the generation that will be moving this field of science and engineering forward in the future. That means that there is a possibility that one of my classmates (or I) could be the individual who cures the common cold. Honestly, I am not sure exactly what I want to be when I grow up, but if I end up as a physicist or mathematician I plan on studying nanotechnologies, if I end up as a politician I will help legislate these research programs, if I end up as a businessman I will surely find my way to found a nanotechnology company (for example, someone could sell nano-muscle enhancers which would be assemblers and replicators programmed to create muscle tissue.
Nanotechnology is just one small field of science and mathematics that holds potential to solve contemporary issues. The truth is that science and mathematics by nature hold solutions. Every science in its individual way seeks to explain the world in its own terms. However, avoiding reductionism and recognizing that our world is a composition of these science and mathematical laws that cause specific order to all of creation is the foundation to our understanding of the universe. To me at this point in life it is completely irrelevant whether our world is the product of the Big-Bang or a master supernatural creator—it is more important to recognize that our world exists within the confines of mathematical and scientific laws which determine what takes place; whether these laws were created by God or exists spontaneously is a matter of faith. All my life the products of science and math have surrounded me. These resultants are the technologies that assist it with day to day living, the technologies that keep my grandfather’s heart beating, the technologies that saved my sister’s life two weeks ago in an accident, the technologies that help alleviate my headaches when I am done with my physics mechanics homework, and the same technologies that are allowing me to write this essay at this very moment.
I cannot recall the last time knowing that King Louis the XIV was the “Sun King” saved a life, nor can I recall when being able to recognize an object complement or a predicate nominative helped improve society or solve a societal issue. However, every single concept of mathematics and science is an integral part of our lives. As our society advances into the future, every single concept and law is a block for the foundation and creation of new technologies. Science and mathematics are recursive, without the precedents we would not have what we have now. Democritus in the early Greek era reasoned the existence of a basic unit of life, in turn Rutherford greatly advanced the understanding of the structure of an atom establishing the properties of the nucleus and electrons (later Bohr perfected that model), Einstein formulated E=mc², Scientists in the 1930s (using machines that could break apart the nuclear cores of atoms) confirmed Einstein's formula E=mc², Bohr paved the way for fission through his theories recognizing the utility of Uranium-235, in turn the developments of the cyclotron for magnetic separation and gaseous diffusion allowed scientists to obtain large quantities of Uranium-235, and eventually the brilliant minds of the Manhattan Project were able to produce the all powerful nuclear bomb. The so-called “final” product is the result of the discoveries of scientists from the past. Every principle builds on the next; as knowledge and understanding become deeper and more complex so does our technology. History and English and foreign language will never be as practical as science and mathematics. Mathematics and science both focus on the world we live in so it is only appropriate that the world we live in focuses on them. They are the solution and will be the solution for all problems to come. Science and mathematics, to put it simply, are the art of problem solving.
