Nanotechnology Immortality Or Total Annihilation Essays (2040 words)

Nanotechnology: Immortality Or Total Annihilation? Nanotechnology: Immortality Or Total Annihilation? Technology has evolved from ideals once seen as unbelievable to common everyday instruments. Computers that used to occupy an entire room are now the size of notebooks. The human race has always pushed for technological advances working at the most efficient level, perhaps, the molecular level. The developments and progress in artificial intelligence and molecular technology have spawned a new form of technology; Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology could give the human race eternal life, or it could cause total annihilation. The idea of nanotech was conceived by a man named K. Eric Drexler (Stix 94), which he defines as "Technology based on the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules to build structures to complex atomic specifications (Drexler, "Engines" 288)." The technology which Drexler speaks of will be undoubtedly small, in fact, nano- structures will only measure 100 nanometers, or a billionth of a meter (Stix 94). Being as small as they are, nanostructures require fine particles that can only be seen with the STM, or Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Dowie 4). Moreover the STM allows the scientists to not only see things at the molecular level, but it can pick up and move atoms as well (Port 128). Unfortunately the one device that is giving nanoscientists something to work with is also one of the many obstacles restricting the development of nanotech. The STM has been regarded as too big to ever produce nanotech structures (Port 128). Other scientists have stated that the manipulation of atoms, which nanotech relies on, ignores atomic reality. Atoms simply don't fit together in ways which nanotech intends to use them (Garfinkel 105). The problems plaguing the progress of nanotech has raised many questions among the scientific community concerning it's validity. The moving of atoms, the gathering of information, the restrictions of the STM, all restrict nanotech progress. And until these questions are answered, nanotech is regarded as silly (Stix 98). But the nanotech optimists are still out there. They contend that the progress made by a team at IBM who was able to write letters and draw pictures atom by atom actually began the birth of nanotech (Darling 49). These same people answer the scientific questions by replying that a breakthrough is not needed, rather the science gained must be applied (DuCharme 33). In fact, Drexler argues that the machines exist, trends are simply working on building better ones ("Unbounding" 24). Drexler continues by stating that the machines he spoke about in "Engines of Creation" published in 1986 should be developed early in the 21st century ("Unbounding" 116). However many scientists still argue that because nanotech has produced absolutely nothing physical, it should be regarded as science fiction (Garfinkel 111). Secondly, nano-doubters rely on scientific fact to condemn nanotech. For example it is argued that we are very far away from ever seeing nanotech due to the fact that when atoms get warm they have a tendency to bounce around. As a result the bouncing atoms collide with other materials and mess up the entire structure (Davidson A1). Taken in hand with the movement of electron charges, many regard nanotech as impossible (Garfinkel 106). But this is not the entirety of the obstacles confining nanotech development. One major set-back is the fact that the nanostructures are too small to reflect light in a visible way, making them practically invisible (Garfinkel 104). Nevertheless, Nanotech engineers remain hopeful and argue that; "With adequate funding, researchers will soon be able to custom build simple molecules that can store and process information and manipulate or fabricate other molecules, including more of themselves. This may occur before the turn of the century."(Roland 30) There are other developments also, that are pushing nanotech in the right direction for as Lipkin pointed out recent developments have lead to possibilities of computers thinking in 3-D (5). Which is a big step towards the processing of information that nanotech requires. Although there are still unanswered questions from some of the scientific community, researchers believe that they are moving forward and will one day be able to produce nanomachines. One such machine is regarded as a replicator. A replicator, as it's name implies, will replicate; much like the way in which genes are able to replicate themselves (Drexler, "Engines" 23). It is also believed that once a replicator has made a copy of itself, it will also be able to arrange atoms to build entirely new materials and structures (Dowie 5). Another perceived nanomachine is the assembler. The assembler is a small machine that will take in raw materials, follow a set of specific instructions, re-arrange the atoms, and result in an altogether new product (Darling 53). Hence, one could make diamonds simply by giving some assemblers a lump of coal. Drexler states that the assemblers will be the most beneficial nanites for they will

Universal Art and Social Art essays

Universal Art and Social Art essays Universal art and social art are both types of art that tell a story. Universal art portrays a common scene that can be found in almost any culture. Social or cultural art portrays a scene that has a specific time or place in a society or is specific to particular culture or religion. The etching by Kathe Kollwitz, Death, Woman and Child (figure 315, page 227) portrays a woman pressing her cheek against her lifeless child. This piece represents universal art, more specifically Nekya Mythologeme. Nekya Mythologeme stories are about personal struggles, doubt, and anxiety. Death is a common occurrence in all cultures which is why this piece is classified as universal. The sorrow, pain, and grief of death experienced by the family and friends left behind defines Nekya Mythologeme. This piece is shows the unconditional love felt between a mother and child by how the mother has pressed her face as close as possible to the childs, appearing connected. The expression on the mothers face is one of love and complete sorrow. The piece also shows a hand wrapped around the childs neck. The text makes note that it is uncertain if this hand is the hand of death or the mothers hand . If the hand is of the mother, then the story is of how much the mother loves and adore s her child. If the hand is representation of death then the story is of a mother unable to recover from the loss of a precious child, which is probably what the artist was trying to portray. Later in the text Sayre references the fact that this scene is a foreshadowing of the mothers death. Kollwitz piece nearly brought me to tears when I saw it. I have a young child and the mere thought of his death gives me extreme sorrow. Prior to having a child I never knew what an unbreakable bond there is between a mother and child. I believe it is the strongest bond one can have with another human being. Kollwitz used brown ink and w ...

Virtue vs Vice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Virtue vs Vice - Essay Example ’s freedom itself originated from an act of disobedience and that the ability to be disobedient is the function of courage and true freedom of thought. Therefore, he disputes the belief that obedience is always a virtue and that disobedience is always a vice. Obedience has been favored as a virtue in man. Erich Fromm however sets out to prove that obedience is not actually a virtue, rather it prevents man from being an independent, free human being. Man is obedient because he is too cowardly to go against the established order of things and the norms of society, to be disobedient. While disobedience has always been looked upon as a vice, Fromm questions whether it is in fact so. It was only after Adam and Eve disobeyed that their eyes were opened and they were able to see the world and their role within it. Therefore, while this act of disobedience has been condemned as the original sin and a vice, it was in fact the symbol of man’s liberation. Fromm applauds the prophets and the philosophers who have advocated that man should always doubt and question everything, because it is only by keeping his eyes open that man can see and learn the truth. It is only a strong and self confident person who can have the courage to be disobedien t, because to be so means to go against the established hierarchies that exist in society and to demonstrate his own power of free will thought and action that is against the set and established rules. Through the act of disobedience, man is subservient to his own conscience rather than being subservient to those who want to exploit him and those who want to muzzle the majority in order to enjoy the benefits and resources of the world for themselves. However, Fromm clarifies that he does not advocate disobedience all the time, on the grounds that it is a virtue. Rather, the act of obedience or disobedience will depend upon what or who a person wishes to submit himself to. Fromm states that if a man obeys all the time and never

Project goals, scope, limitations and conclusion Assignment

Project goals, scope, limitations and conclusion - Assignment Example Customer desires and preferences keep on changing with stiff competition due to new players who are entering the industry every time. There are government policies and regulations regarding the sell and distribution of chemicals in the respective countries that may slow down the expansion of the project. Rigorous environmental conditions in many countries are increasing both the cost and speedy development and distribution of new improved chemicals in the market. In many cases, obtaining the license for the supply of a new product is difficult. There is a serious challenge in supplying low volumes of products with diverse customer requirements in the market. Mostly, it is necessary to make delivery ranging from mass wagonloads to periodical shipment of a few barrels. The most important factor that requires more consideration in the success of the business is the efficiency in the supply and distribution of the products. The management must demonstrate and prove to customers that of all the various suppliers and distributors in the industry they are the best and need credit and honor. This therefore means coming up with better techniques in order to uniquely define the mode of service delivery, which will help create a difference between the business and other players. Efficient service delivery will also help in building customer loyalty as well as attracting new others when they notice the benefits of choosing the organization as their supplier. To achieve high efficiency the most important area that require attention is the delivery schedule. The organization must be able to supply the right product, at the right place and within the stipulated time without delay. Delays will interfere with the customer’s working schedule and this will cultivate negative feelings about the reliability of the firm in supplying the products. Another area is safety of all the parties involved ranging from

Assimilation, pluralism, and multiculturalism models, and include Essay

Assimilation, pluralism, and multiculturalism models, and include their historical timelines - Essay Example In this instance, the groups maintain their elements of their identities such as their culture, language and their other form of cultural practices or the traditions. Pluralists in this instance, believe that they can only allow intermingling of their culture with the modern aspects of life. Such aspects include education, music, art, history, cuisine and other relevant aspects of life (Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, & Qin-Hillard, 2010). It refers to the evolution of the diversity of culture within a given limit that took place in the past. The evolution of the culture was under the influence of the selection, institution, and the settlement policies. It entails the conjunction of two or more groups due to the demographic features that surround them. The Hispanics regarded themselves as not the same as the Americans’ while some of them could speak both English and Spanish could not fully assimilate into the American culture. Hispanics were also more liberal and conservative in comparisons to the Americans decided not get assimilated into the American culture (GarciÃÅ', 2005). The relationship between these people and the natives was very worse. It was not possible for them to socialize with the natives since there was a lot of racial discrimination regarding their skin culture. Almost in all sectors in the United States, these people never interacted with the natives or the real American citizens by birth. As such, they ended up, not getting assimilated into American culture (Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, & Qin-Hillard, 2010). The wave of the assimilation that was to occur for the Native Americans was to undergo the assimilation that involves the acceptance of the foreign culture from the Europeans. The foreigners were at those times majorly the colonialists in the country. Europe agitated for a standard form of education system all over the world, but the Americans believed that theirs was more superior and decided to follow

Rock N Roll And Technological Advancements Media Essay

Rock N Roll And Technological Advancements Media Essay Just in the middle of the 20th century, in the1950s, the world was introduced to a brand new trend in music. That was rock N roll. Rock N roll seriously changed the concept and image of popular music. This new trend originated from rhythm and blues of 1940s together with jazz, swing, boogie woogie, blues, gospel, western, country and traditional country music. With so many old genres being emerged and mixed, there was also a need for a new sound, for a new power of music reaching as many ears and hearts as possible. Thus, technological advancements were just at the service of rock n roll. One of such crucial advancements was the development of stereophonic sound: at least two separate audio channels were used to transfer sound through two or more loudspeakers. This technology provided the illusion performance heard from different directions and audible perspective. In this way, reproduced sound became closer to natural hearing. The principle of stereo typing looks like putting two microphones in specially defined locations. Both microphones are recording at the same time, synchronously. In fact, stereo sound was invented already in 1881 when the visitors of Paris Electrical Exhibition could here the performance from the stage of Paris Opera due to the 2-channel audio system presented by Clement Ader. The exhibitors were given two telephonic receivers, independent for each ear and could experience the presence effect. In 1931 multinational music company, the EMI Group and specifically Alan Blumlein special two-channel system and in 1933 patented stereophonic recording technology cutting a stereo disc carrying two channels by means of two walls of the groove put t right angles. But only in 25 years this method was fated to become a standard one for stereo phonographs. To make stereo available for public, Emory Cook introduced a binaural recordings for commercial reproduction as the interest to such recording and demand for proper equipment was growing. By autumn of 1957 stereo recording became really widespread through the United States. It gave vast opportunities for experiments with sound, so the musicians could not help using them actively. Consequently, both African American Blues and rock n roll music were highly varied after stereo was introduced. By that time, the same stations broadcasted both mono and stereo sound sources. As Deanna R. Adams states, stereo recording of contemporary music w as becoming more common, providing yet another reason that made FM more attractive and by different reasons high-fidelity stereo transmission was becoming more and more popular (Adams 102). Further, there were crucial shifts in the quality of music delivery. Rock n roll opened the new era with stereo vinyl becoming the prevailing media for all the recorded music. Meanwhile, the Germans invented magnetic type and this was a new word to high fidelity recording with synchronized multichannel method. Hereby, tape recorders came from technological experiments conducted in Germany of the World War II times. In the United States, in turn, a high-quality tape recorder was installed by Ampex Corporation. Plastic tape was perfected by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M), and better sound was also reached through the invention of condenser microphones (Biagi 92). Recording was invariantly important because, certainly, not everyone could attend stage concerts or shows. Magnetic tape made the recordings more long-term in use and easier to spread; so, more and more people could here the same music in different corners of the country and were more and more stimulated to buy tapes and tape recorders. Thus, it was a continuous process of scaling: Its interesting to note that with the growth of popularity in music spread, brought about largely by the hysteria surrounding Rock n Roll, so the technology to support music picked up the pace too. It means that it was a reciprocal exchange of benefits. Technologies provided new opportunities for sound recording and distribution as well as quality of sound, while better sound influencing the rating of rock n roll resulted in boom in production of those technologies. This is how music started the way of becoming a kind of business. Still, rock n roll was not as commercial as it may seem; on the contrary, musicians were really working hard in search of something new and fresh. Among other techniques, they directed their attention to various electronic effects. Electric guitar was one more gripping innovation of those days; Charlie Christian was first to record the instrument as a virtuoso, thus driving the whole nation mad. Electric guitar made the world of sounds richer, and what is more, it provided much louder sound so that more people could here it in the distance. Musicians exploited various amazing effects like distortion, fuzz and overdrive, all noisy and buzzy so much that even called doubts on whether it still was music. Guitar extortion was not accepted affirmatively; the ear was to get adjusted to it. But that was an era of sensory explosion; young people were actively experimenting with sensory-enhancing drugs, so that music was accepted as being right on the wave. Distortion in guitar was produced by transistor and diode clipping. While at first distortion was natural because amplifiers were low-fidelity and primitive, further, when rock was conquering the world, inventive musicians learnt to turn weaknesses of the instruments into virtues. Thus, intentional distortion was applied by poking strings or speakers with pencils, screwdrivers and even blazes. Shocking sounds, often reminding some voices like wolf howling or alarm, provided a special charm for rock music. Distortion gained mad popularity after Dave Davies (The Kinks) recorded the single You Really Got Me through a small amp with speaker cone cut with a razor blade. Later distortion became used on purpose and became commercial and contributing essentially to the popularity of rock n roll music. Finally, one more influential advancement to contribute to the history of rock culture was television. In 1950s it experienced essential growth and was revolutionized by the presentation of color broadcasts. Color television without any doubt brought a huge gamma of new impressions to the viewers, and by 1955 half of the households in the United States had applied a TV set. Before creating something original, television air was mostly filled by programs modified from radio shows. Consequently, music shows were also among the most called-for, and rock star producers actively used this opportunity. Now the fans could not only here their favorite bands and singers in records, but they could also watch them with their own eyes. Television broadcasted concerts and gradually video clips were rising; musicians were giving interviews and millions of fans throughout the country could stick their noses to the screens and enjoy show programs as well as an imitation of personal communication wit h stars. It is obvious that color television provided much more realistic image. Television industry, on the one hand, became a home for rock to live in and to address from, and on the other hand it soon provided the songs with a new context. Television was a solid and inherent part of popular culture, while rock, by its mission, was to oppose to popular culture and found a new shooting mark for its sharp sting. Television together with radio made rock n roll a groundbreaking body in mass communication. Since the rise of color television, it was no more music only. Now it became a new media of manipulating peoples conscience and tastes. TV presented a new method for encoding and decoding information, developing absolutely new system of motivations and preferences. Inexperienced audience was ready to believe everything coming from the screens of their home TV sets, and their unprecedented interest gave birth to demanded activity (Miller, ed. 36). The more active they were, the more p opular were those who managed to get to the back side of the set. Rock became the music of performance, not only listening. All in all, there was a great number of factors defining and enhancing the fate of rock n roll culture. Apart from some inner reasons, advancements n technologies were among the most shifting stones that assisted rock and roll to spread throughout the world. All points of the research considered, it is easy to make a conclusion that the effect of technology progress on rock culture was truly overwhelming and did revolutionize the way we produce, distribute and consume music.

Monetary Policy in Canada :: essays papers

Monetary Policy in Canada The Bank of Canada’s Control Over the Money Supply  · The ability of the central bank to affect the money supply is critically related to its ability to determine the reserves of the commercial banking system.  · One important tool that the Bank uses for influencing the supply of money is the purchase or sale of government securities on the open market. These actions are known as open-market operations.  · Whenever the Bank is involved in either the purchase or sale of government securities, the reserves of the entire banking system are altered, and this affects the money supply.  · When the Bank of Canada buys a treasury bill or a bond from a household or a firm, it pays for the bond with a cheque drawn on itself and payable to the seller. The seller deposits this cheque in a commercial bank, which then presents the cheque to the Bank of Canada for payment.  · The bank of Canada then makes a book entry, increasing the deposit of the commercial bank at the central bank, which adds to the commercial bank’s reserves.  · Typically, when the Bank buys securities on the open market, the reserves of the commercial banks are increased. These banks can then expand deposits, thereby increasing the money supply.  · When the Bank sells a security to a household or firm, it receives in return the buyers cheque drawn against a deposit in a bank. The Bank presents the cheque to the commercial bank for payment.  · Payment is made by a book entry that reduces the bank’s deposit at the central bank, and hence reduces its reserves.  · When the central bank sells securities on the open market, the reserves of the commercial banks are decreased. These banks must in turn contract deposits, thereby decreasing the money supply.  · Extension 29-1  · Cash management - the shifting of government deposits between the Bank of Canada and the chartered banks – is a major tool used by the Bank of Canada in its day-to-day operations.  · When the Bank transfers government deposits, it influences the reserves of the banking system relative to its target level of reserves, thereby inducing an expansion or contraction of commercial bank lending and thus an expansion or contraction of the money supply.  · Open-market operations and control of government deposits give the Bank of Canada potent weapons for affecting the size of commercial bank reserves and thus for affecting the money supply.  · Though the details of an open-market operation differ from