CLASSIC Kevin - The wisest words I have seen or heard all week since I revisited this article... as a After Dinner peep on APEC.

"Always remember folks, life rarely matches the 'hype'.
The mundane is where the beauty of life is to be found - not in the 'super-fantastical'. Those with a 'lot' to lose have a huge amount of FEAR to project."

And may it remain safer for all the right reasons.

http://www.miacat.com/
.

Julian Cribb,

I think you've oversensationalised this one. Nanotechnology has its dark, dark, downside, but your theme deserves a better medium - say a a good sci fi thriller. Not that some of the genre haven't "come true".

Here, for example, we have progress toward the all-destroying ray-gun:

NATURE

13 September 2007 Volume 449 Number 7159, pp 115 - 258

"The production of molecular positronium pp195 - 197"

"When intense positron bursts are implanted into a thin film of porous silica, di-positronium (Ps2) is created on the internal pore surfaces, providing experimental proof of the existence of the molecule."

"Using a more intense positron source, it may be possible to form a
Bose-Einstein condensate of Psf2 molecules, which would be of
significant fundamental interest and a milestone on the path to
produce an annihilation gamma-ray laser."

D. B. Cassidy and A. P. Mills, Jr
doi:10.1038/nature06094
Abstract: http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/egBy0Sod2W0HjB0Bbq80E8
Article: http://ealerts.nature.com/cgi-bin24/DM/y/egBy0Sod2W0HjB0BbrA0EJ

I'd be pleased to hear from you on this one, Julian, as I can only get the headlines by email from NATURE. I'm assuming you have access to a subscription.

And BOAZ,
tell me - can you say whether Noah took any dinosaurs with him, on the Ark?

Oh dear, what a lot of naifs there are on this website, who have apparently never heard of data mining. Of course this article is science fiction, but the facts underpinning it are real enough. It is intended to foreshadow a potential trend in technology development which, if we fail to protect our rights and freedoms now, we may one day have cause to regret. I, for one, am not confident that as new technologies emerge, they will always be used by generous, well-intentioned and humanitarian people. Others may differ, but history is not on their side.

Absolutely agree! I'm surprised that this article was given so little credence.

(But lay off the naifs bit before you look around Jules.)

Well then, Julian, if you insist on ad hominum categories like "naif", I'll sock it to you good, about the evils of “magnetic micropliers”, as written up in PNAS (parsing mine).

Because it’s plain to me that signals could be applied operating “magnetic micropliers" pinching individual neurons in the human amygdala, via subcutaneous nano-tranceiver implants in blowflies frequenting the unsanitary abodes of feral greenies. Provided they were abducted, implanted and released unawares, and not wearing their tinfoil hats, - heh heh - .

ABSTRACT
"Magnetic microposts as an approach to apply forces to living cells"

Cells respond to mechanical forces whether applied externally or generated internally via the cytoskeleton.

To study the cellular response to forces separately, we [the authors, rather than us mob] applied external forces to cells via microfabricated magnetic posts containing cobalt nanowires interspersed among an array of elastomeric posts, which acted as independent sensors to cellular traction forces.

A magnetic field induced torque in the nanowires, which deflected the magnetic posts and imparted force to individual adhesions of cells attached to the array. Using this system, we examined the cellular reaction to applied forces and found that applying a step force led to an increase in local focal adhesion size at the site of application but not at nearby nonmagnetic posts.

Focal adhesion recruitment was enhanced further when cells were subjected to multiple force actuations within the same time interval.

Recording the traction forces in response to such force stimulation revealed two responses: a sudden loss in contractility that occurred within the first minute of stimulation or a gradual decay in contractility over several minutes.

For both types of responses, the subcellular distribution of loss in traction forces was not confined to locations near the actuated micropost, nor uniformly across the whole cell, but instead occurred at discrete locations along the cell periphery.

Together, these data reveal an important dynamic biological relationship between external and internal forces and demonstrate the utility of this microfabricated system to explore this interaction.

http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/short/104/37/14553

Stop laughing - this is serious!

So much criticism of what is clearly a well-informed author.

Criticism of his stating that a full genetic profile of every citizen at birth is taken.

http://natashastottdespoja.deadline.net.au/aspx/campaigns_guthrie_card.aspx
"Did you know her newborn screening blood sample will be stored for 50 years, can be used for research without consent or knowledge once it is “de-identified” , and this baby and her family will never have access to that information?
The Australian Law Reform Commission’s 2003 genetic privacy report recommends the development of nationally consistent rules to cover the collection, storage, use and disclosure of, and access to, newborn screening cards..."

Criticism of references to quantam computers...

http://www.dwavesys.com/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=4&cntnt01returnid=21
"February 13, 2007
World’s First Commercial Quantum Computer Demonstrated
New System Aims at Breakthroughs in Medicine, Business Applications and Expanded Use of Digital Computers
VANCOUVER, B.C. or MT. VIEW, CA – February 13, 2007 – The world’s first commercially viable quantum computer was unveiled and demonstrated today in Silicon Valley by D-Wave Systems, Inc., a privately-held Canadian firm headquartered near Vancouver..."

and to Nanobots...

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=66720
"11/22/2007 Cancer-Slaying Nanobots
Scientists from MIT have developed nanoparticles that can seek out tumors and release drug payloads directly to afflicted cells. The particles are part superparamagnetic metal (give off heat when exposed to magnetic fields) part DNA and part drug..."

The scientist stands out here, and its the author.

'All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed. second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.' - Schopenhauer