by Pavel Podolyak

Created on: August 12, 2009   Last Updated: August 15, 2009

As of today, every major state power in the world is actively pursuing nanotechnological breakthroughs to give itself a geopolitical advantage. Public and private enterprises are seeing sharp increases in financial and logistical support. Although the global economic depression weighs down the hands of many civilian branches (legislative/executive) by increased centrifugal pulls of populist and oligarchic factions, military leaderships and intelligence services understand that allowing foreign powers to make a nanotech leap can be disastrous. Whichever society is able to produce the

first fabricator is but a few steps away from being able to cheaply and exponentially produce advanced weaponry and weapons systems in bulk. Even Iran is dabbling with nanotech lately by giving Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (ministry name not a joke, check the link) some money for agricultural product research. Whether they'll be making better fertilizer or better fertilizer bombs remains to be seen. Supposedly there's already been some nanotech use in an explosive device that had more destructive power than US's MOAB while being lighter in weight.

In recent years we saw an increasing number of breakthroughs in manufacturing processes of nanoscale parts. The advancements stand to produce larger quantity as well as better quality of objects on the scale needed to build the first fabricator. This video shows a visual sketch to give a person an idea of how an advanced fabricator (one made a number of version generations after the first proto fabricator is created) in mid 21st century can produce publicly approved items.

The processes shown in the video might seem fantastical and impossible but a number of scientists (such as the polymath Richard Feynman a few decades ago) have shown that there is nothing standing in the way from the side of physics. As of 2009, dozens of very optimistic research papers have not been shown to be completely wrong yet. We also have plentiful evidence of advanced nanotechnological systems working splendidly due to the presence of self replicating machinery such as cells in plants, animals, bacteria, and human beings. There is also not one single manufacturing process (to assemble parts for the first crude fabricator and put them together) to be derailed since a number of roads within biology and chemistry can lead to the same desired results.

I have written how existing non-nano mass production technology is already capable of feeding and providing a basic material stipend to all people

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