Eric Drexler’s New Book Radical Abundance has Big Ideas like Engines of Creation

I have received an advanced copy of Eric Drexler’s Radical Abundance. The book will be released on May 7, 2013 but can be pre-ordered now. Eric Drexler wrote Engines of Creation – the coming age of nanotechnology (in 1986) and in 2007, he wrote an online e-book Engines of Creation 2.0.

Eric also wrote Nanosystems.

Radical Abundance is in the style of Engines of Creation

Eric Drexler is the intellectual father of the vision of molecular manufacturing – molecular nanotechnology.

Eric identifies areas where molecular manufacturing or similarly powerful changes in manufacturing technology could have massive leverage.

* if all agriculture was inside greenhouses then agricultural produtivity would increase by ten times
* telecommunication costs can be reduced by 1000 times
* radical abundance can also radically reduce environmental impact

* radically transforming the cost and effectiveness of medicine
* radically reducing the cost and increasing the pace of research
* transforming energy and transportation

Eric reviews several useful metrics for approximating where full-blown nanotechnology can take civilization.

Eric also discusses security impacts and the challenges and issues in managing radical success.

Eric Drexler still has big useful insights for analyzing the future.

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