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UBICOMP 2002 KEYNOTE:
PROGRAMMABLE
MATTER
by Wil McCarthy
Electronic devices are rapidly shrinking to the nanometer scale, where
quantum mechanics dominates and particles become waves. Here, the
distinction between chemistry, mechanics and electronics begins to blur.
Case in point: the quantum dot, a device capable of trapping electrons in
a space so small that they form "artificial atoms" whose size and shape
and charge can be controlled in real time. Historically, the properties
of matter are determined at the time of manufacture, through careful mixing
and processing. But now we find ourselves at the dawn of a new age, where
substances exist whose optical, electrical, magnetic and even mechanical
properties can be adjusted at the flip of a bit. In a fifty-minute
lecture, Engineer/Journalist/Novelist Wil McCarthy explores the social and
technological implications of this "programmable matter."
Wil McCarthy is the author of numerous science fiction
novels, including Bloom and The Collapsium, and a contributor
to many science periodicals. He has previously written about programmable
matter in Nature and in Wired Magazine, in an article titled
Ultimate Alchemy.
More information about Wil McCarthy and his work can be found at his homepage.
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