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categories: ["people", "nanomedicine"]categories: ["people", "nanomedicine"]tags: ["nanotechnology", "molecular manufacturing", "grey goo", "foresight", "artificial intelligence"]tags: ["nanotechnology", "molecular manufacturing", "grey goo", "foresight", "artificial intelligence"]summary: "American engineer who proposed molecular nanotechnology, wrote Engines of Creation and Nanosystems, and later worked on AI strategy at Oxford."summary: "American engineer who proposed molecular nanotechnology, wrote Engines of Creation and Nanosystems, and later worked on AI strategy at Oxford."updated: "2026-07-27"updated: "2026-08-23"issues: ["Bill Joy's 2000 relinquishment essay is described without a citation."]------ ```infobox```infoboxlines 98–110 → 97–11983 unchanged lines not shown
}}`````` > [!debate] Where the dispute stands> The one formal adjudication came in 2006, when the National Research Council's triennial review> of the American nanotechnology programme examined molecular manufacturing and declined to take> either side: attainable error rates, speeds and thermodynamic efficiencies of such systems> "cannot be reliably predicted at this time" from theory, and the committee recommended funding> experimental demonstrations that link the models to results.[^nrc2006] No demonstration of> positional mechanosynthesis of a useful structure has been produced since, so the question> Smalley raised remains open on exactly the terms the review set — not whether the calculations> exist, but whether an experiment can be made to match them. ## Grey goo and its retraction## Grey goo and its retraction *Engines of Creation* included a scenario in which self-replicating assemblers escape control and*Engines of Creation* included a scenario in which self-replicating assemblers escape control andconsume the biosphere. Drexler introduced it as a hazard to be designed against, but it detachedconsume the biosphere. Drexler introduced it as a hazard to be designed against, but it detachedfrom the book and became the popular image of nanotechnology, amplified by fiction and by Bill Joy'sfrom the book and became the popular image of nanotechnology, amplified by fiction and by Bill Joy'swidely read 2000 essay on relinquishment, which treated self-replicating nanomachines alongsidewidely read 2000 essay on relinquishment, which treated self-replicating nanomachines alongsidegenetic engineering and AI as a novel class of [[existential-risk]].genetic engineering and AI as a novel class of [[existential-risk]].[^joy2000] Drexler subsequently argued that the scenario had been a strategic error on his part. With ChrisDrexler subsequently argued that the scenario had been a strategic error on his part. With ChrisPhoenix he set out the case that efficient molecular manufacturing does not require free-floatingPhoenix he set out the case that efficient molecular manufacturing does not require free-floatinglines 162–167 → 171–17851 unchanged lines not shown
[^drexler1981]: `paper` Drexler, K. E. "Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation." *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, 1981.[^drexler1981]: `paper` Drexler, K. E. "Molecular engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation." *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*, 1981.[^nanosystems1992]: `book` Drexler, K. E. *Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation*. Wiley, 1992.[^nanosystems1992]: `book` Drexler, K. E. *Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation*. Wiley, 1992.[^smalley2001]: `news` Smalley, R. E. "Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots." *Scientific American*, 2001. {A magazine essay by a party to the dispute; the fat-fingers and sticky-fingers objections are argued, not demonstrated experimentally.}[^smalley2001]: `news` Smalley, R. E. "Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots." *Scientific American*, 2001. {A magazine essay by a party to the dispute; the fat-fingers and sticky-fingers objections are argued, not demonstrated experimentally.}[^nrc2006]: `report` National Research Council. *A Matter of Size: Triennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative*. National Academies Press, 2006. {A congressionally mandated review; its molecular-manufacturing section concludes that theoretical performance estimates cannot be reliably predicted and recommends experimental proof-of-principle work.}[^joy2000]: `news` Joy, B. "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us." *Wired*, April 2000. {An essay by Sun Microsystems' chief scientist arguing for relinquishment of genetics, nanotechnology and robotics research; an argument about policy, not a technical analysis.}[^dp2004]: `paper` Phoenix, C. and Drexler, K. E. "Safe exponential manufacturing." *Nanotechnology*, 2004.[^dp2004]: `paper` Phoenix, C. and Drexler, K. E. "Safe exponential manufacturing." *Nanotechnology*, 2004.[^cais2019]: `report` Drexler, K. E. *Reframing Superintelligence: Comprehensive AI Services as General Intelligence*. Future of Humanity Institute Technical Report, University of Oxford, 2019. {An institutional technical report from the author's own institute, not a peer-reviewed publication.}[^cais2019]: `report` Drexler, K. E. *Reframing Superintelligence: Comprehensive AI Services as General Intelligence*. Future of Humanity Institute Technical Report, University of Oxford, 2019. {An institutional technical report from the author's own institute, not a peer-reviewed publication.} removed, struck through added, underlinedLine numbers count the serialised markdown of each revision, frontmatter included.
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