Engines of Creation 2.0 : The Coming Era of Nanotechnology

Some seminal works stand out like beacons in the history of science. Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica and Watson and Crick's A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid come quickly to mind. In recent decades we can add Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation, which established the revolutionary new field of nanotechnology. In the twenty years since this seminal work was published, its premises and analyses have been confirmed and we are starting to apply precise molecular assembly to a wide variety of early applications from blood cell sized devices that can target cancer cells to a new generation of efficient solar panels. We can now see clearly the roadmap over the next couple of decades to the full realization of Drexler's concept of the inexpensive assembly of macro objects constructed at the nanoscale controlled by massively parallel information processes, the fulfillment of which will enable us to solve problems — energy, environmental degradation, poverty, and disease to name a few — that have plagued humankind for eons."
— Ray Kurzweil, inventor, and author of The Singularity is Near, When Humans Transcend Biology

Originally published in 1986, K. Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation laid the theoretical foundation for the modern field of nanotechnology and articulated the amazing possibilities and dangers associated with engineering at the molecular scale. Unique for both its style and substance, the book is today recognized as the seminal work in nanotechnology and has earned Drexler the title of "Father of Nanotechnology."