Is it possible nanoscaling technology, expansion and implosion fabrication, will be used for easier storage or transport of products?
Today Nano technology is more of a standard size using electron beams and lasers and other mechanical means to create patterning ,etching and to evaluate down to to and surpassing the one nano metric level .1 nano unit equals 1 billionth of a meter.Building or layering or self assembling could someday achieve larger items .Scalable may occur someday in transportation and fabrication or storage. Someday maybe even soon multiple parts using only reacting agent will form those multiple parts into a larger structure using self assembly. That would truly enhance space travel .Firing individual nano units on beams of high powered laser light into space at or near the speed of light to far away worlds.Upon arrival at the destination planet a reacting agent in the planets atmosphere that we are aware is there from astronomical spectroscopy will act upon the arriving nano parts self assembling them into miniature sample collecting laboratories and other amazing things .Someday we may greatly understand ,terraform or mine other worlds with a beam of light giving mankind another place to go .
How can nanotechnology improve the safety of humans?
How can nanotechnology improve the safety of humans?Boy is this a loaded question. Nanotechnology can do many useful things. It can create materials strong enough to build a space elevator. That could really move us forward. Cheap ways to get things into orbit. The boon to communications, materials science, weather forecasting would be immeasurable.Nanobots could boost our immune systems attacking and destroying harmful microorganisms before our bodies could respond. They could repair damage to organs, remove cancers, and eat proteins that cause degeneration like Alzheimer’s. With an intelligent immune system we could destroy our biological immune systems and render autoimmune diseases a thing of the past.But there is a risk. They are way too small to manufacture in the vast quantities required to fix your immune system and we certainly can’t change the batteries. Nanobots self-replicate - they multiply. They draw energy from the organism they inhabit. What happens if they escape your body and start eating stuff we didn’t plan on? They are not vulnerable to antibiotics. They would inhabit plants and devour them, slowly taking over our world and eventually bringing an end to all life. This is the Gray Goo scenario Grey goo - Wikipedia. Rapidly replicating tiny machines that are not vulnerable to most of our weaponry can be a real threat.So, we can be safer and live longer - perhaps indefinitely. But they could also eat our world in which case we wouldn't live long at all.
How close is technology to build a starship like the Starship Avalon in the movie Passengers?
The technology of Starship Avalon is pretty much very advanced. But lets brake them down to smaller parts.From the most important technologies.The Ship’s Design - According to the Directors of the movie the ship was assembled in space and was over 1 km long so this means that humanity should have been able to mine the asteroids nearby. The cost to getting 1 pound into space today is 10000 $. I would say 40–70 years until we are there including artificial gravity being created from the rotation of the ship.Hibernation - This one is tough since some animals can hibernate for months. But to hibernate humans for 90 years it would take much more breakthrough in science. Some companies are already working on sth called ‘induced stasis in humans’ to prolong human lifespan. 40–50 years.Interstellar Propulsion - 50 % of Light Speed. The ship has 3 nuclear fusion reactors. This technology is far away let alone implementing it in a spaceship. I would say 100–150 years.Artificial Intelligence - The artificial intelligences portrayed in the movie are of different but specific tasks. They are not all powerful like HAL in movie A Space Oddysey but respond to various functions in the ship. The Bridge Computer, Arthur the Android, The cleaning small robots, The Search assistant, the hologram flight attendant etc - This one is much closer today. I would say to handle small tasks like these robots humans would need 5-20 years more. For the Main Computer and Core Reactor computers maybe more.So to sum it up I think it would require humanity at the very least, 100 years to build the Avalon.
What is the meaning of technology?
Technology is a broad concept that deals with the usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects the ability to control and adapt to the environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances predate the two concepts. People's use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
What will the future technology be like?
I wonder what will we have in 100 years from now? what do you think is going to happen in this century? I am wondering if the future is going to look high tech. What do you think would happen. And don't give me the world will end in 2012 answer or the world will blow up answer I would like an actual answer on what would happen in the future.
Why don't we build a tower to space instead of launching rockets from the surface?
A building has to be able to support its own weight. The engineers here could advise how much vertical pressure the base of the building would be under if the building was 2000 km tall (to reach low Earth orbit, or even 100 km tall to reach the edge of space).Also, even at 2000 km high the top of the tower would be moving at the same rotational velocity as the base, which is much too slow for any space ship to dock. If you wanted a spaceship to be able to dock, you would need to reach geosynchronous orbit, which is 35,786 km. The building would also need to be on the equator, otherwise no orbit could match its own path (fixed by the Earth’s surface underneath).There is no known material (and granite is the hardest natural material available) that can take that pressure. I suspect that with a building 35,786 km high, the pressure would be sufficient to melt the lower levels, bringing the whole lot crashing down.Another possible issue is the wind and other forces on it. In a strong wind, unless it was very wide for the first few hundred kilometers (maybe 10–20 km wide at the base), it would snap like a twig.Most engineers would change careers if asked in all seriousness to build such a nightmare structure.ADDED: There is also a concept known as a space elevator, suggested in various scientific and science fiction sources. You start with a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, and simultaneously extend a line down to the Earth and outwards to counterbalance the weight of the downward line.We do not currently have any material strong enough to bear its own weight all the way down from geosynchronous orbit, but carbon nano-tubes or something similar may prove useful for this. (The material needs to have an incredible tensile strength for its weight.)It is still currently outside our technology but much more achievable than a 35,786 km tower.