American - Scientist | February 2, 1952 -
There are certain things that are inherently scarce. For example, there is only a certain amount of beachfront property in California. It is going to be scarce, it is going to be expensive.
Ralph Merkle
CaliforniaExpensivePropertyGoing
The new technologies that we see coming will have major benefits that will greatly alleviate human suffering.
SufferingNewWillHumanSeeComing
The laws of physics should allow us to arrange things molecule by molecule and even atom by atom, and at some point it was inevitable that we would develop a technology that would let us do this.
TechnologyPhysicsInevitablePoint
The first approximation in this future that we're looking at is that everyone will be physically well off. They will have a great abundance in material goods, and I think that will soften some of the conflicts we see now.
FutureGreatLookingThinkAbundance
One of the things that we can say with confidence is that we will have much lighter, much stronger materials, and this will reduce the cost of air flight, and the cost of rockets.
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One of the issues facing us today is that there are countries where there is a serious lack of resources, the standards of living are very low, and this creates a fundamental unease and discomfort in entire populations.
TodaySeriousLivingResourcesLow
One of the concepts essential to molecular manufacturing is that of a self-replicating manufacturing system. That concept has lagged behind in its acceptance.
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Many people in the world today are not starving because there is an inherent inability to produce food, they are starving because they are caught in the middle of political fights and blockades that have been used as weapons.
TodayFoodPeopleWorldPolitical
Machines built by human beings they will function correctly if we provide them with a very specific environment. But if that environment is changed, they won't function at all.
EnvironmentWillHumanFunction
Lighter computers and lighter sensors would let you have more function in a given weight, which is very important if you are launching things into space, and you have to pay by the pound to put things there.
SpaceComputersYouImportantMore
If you think the technology is infeasible, you don't worry about what it might do and what its potential is.
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Food is available, but it cannot be shipped into an area, so the people in that area suffer the consequences.
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