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Molecular manufacturing involves using nanoscale “assemblers” to build products atom by atom. A molecular assembler would be capable of placing individual atoms with precision, and a nanofactory could use purified feedstock to create products. For the technology to be useful, assemblers must be able to make copies of themselves. Molecular manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize society, but public knowledge and regulation are lacking. Ribosomes in our bodies are a natural example of molecular assemblers that self-replicate.
Molecular manufacturing is the hypothetical future use of reprogrammable nanoscale “assemblers” to build products atom by atom. A molecular assembler would be a nanoscale robotic manipulator capable of placing individual atoms, such as carbon, on a surface with atomic precision. An ordinary person would experience this technology in the form of a “nanofactory,” a self-contained desktop molecular manufacturing unit that uses a purified feedstock, such as propane gas.
For a molecular assembler to be useful to humans, it should be able to make copies of itself. Otherwise, it would take too long for a single assembler to build something of significant size or value. If a wide range of assemblers could cooperate, they could build macro-scale products with atomic precision, using a highly automated, high-throughput process. This is significant enough that if the technical hurdles are overcome, the technology would launch another industrial revolution, arguably more transformative than the first two combined.
Molecular assemblers and molecular manufacturing are nothing new. We have trillions of them in our bodies: organelles called ribosomes. Working in large numbers, ribosomes synthesize every protein in every organism in nature, from extremophile microbes to the blue whale. Their basic design is the same, because every living thing evolved from a common ancestor that already had the basic protein synthesis machinery in place. Of course, ribosomes also self-replicate.
If an inorganic molecular assembler were created that could make copies of itself, it could create a new form of “life,” albeit one that is directly controlled by programming. This idea was called molecular manufacturing and some of the technical details were actually worked out. Theorists have designed physically viable gears, motors, batteries, cables, moving rods, selectors, shafts, and more. Some of these nanoscale devices have already been fabricated, others are actively being worked on.
Molecular manufacturing has the potential to turn society upside down, but hardly anyone has heard of it. Often, molecular manufacturing ideas are combined or confused with other possible applications of the broader field of nanotechnology in general, making it difficult to develop regulatory policies for the latter. One study found that public opinion on nanotechnology could be easily manipulated by changing just a few sentences in how the topic is introduced. These gaps in knowledge are worrying for some futurists and politicians, who would like to see more discussion of the futuristic possibilities of molecular manufacturing and how it could be regulated.
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