Drexlerian nanotech

[JohnnyYesterday]

What I mean to point out here is that Drexler made no allowances for progressively larger manufacturing implements. This is the crux of the problem: molecular assembly is good for things like transistors, but bad for things like a block of steel. Molecular assembly MUST be integrated with macroscopic processes to be effective. Which is why in some cases, a reconfigurable manufacturing machine may be better than a traditional universal assembler, as it can do things like build said ruler without the added task of molecular synthesis.

Drexler's thoughts moved on from 1986.

He wrote a highly technical book called Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation in '91 that talks about convergent manufacturing to produce macroscopic objects.

This animation contains some errors (don't take it too literally) but it conveys the basic idea of convergent manufacturing.