Wi-Fi Equipped Nanobots Could Revolutionize Medicine

Nano-inspirations often hit first thing in the morning. A concept for nanobot application occurred to me when I awoke this morning that could revolutionize neurology. If nanobots can be built to receive radio signals, then they can also be engineered to detect weak electrical fields such as those that traverse our nervous systems. The proximity of nanobots in the bloodstream to the nerve cells would permit sensitivity to such weak fields, and if the nanobots could transmit weak, narrow-band radio signals to provide measurements of nerve activity, it is possible that much new information could be learned about the nervous system. Of course, the subject would need to be in an electrically quiet environment such as a Faraday cage (no cellphones allowed), and all equipment inside the cage would need to be carefully shielded and bypassed to further eliminate unwanted electrical fields, but the concept seems feasible. Since nano-scale radio receivers have already been demonstrated (link), it doesn’t seem far fetched to have them transmit as well, and, with enough sophistication and computing power, achieve the capability for Wi-Fi-like networking (link).  So how could this capability be applied?

A Trip to the Nanotech Dentist

Will nanobots someday clean my teeth? In the future, will my dentist spray a fine mist of nanobots into my mouth? Then, will he activate the nanobots with a remote control, after which the nanobots will identify where plaque and other undesirable materials bond to the enamel of my teeth and dissolve those bonds? Some of the nanobots would also move into the space between the teeth and gums and break up bacteria and the acid molecules they excrete, and possibly even repair cell damage. Then, ten minutes later, will I just rinse my mouth, have an inspection from the dentist, make my appointment for next time, and leave?

Nanotechnology Products, Like Many Others, Have Risks That Are Being Managed

Many products in current use have risks that must be managed. Many products we use every day have risks, and their dangers are managed systematically, not infrequently by force of government regulation. Gasoline, for example, is a known carcinogen, so regulations govern its handling and the warnings we are consistently given about it. As recent research has shown, carbon nanotubes also have risks that must be managed (link). Science doesn’t move ahead smoothly, however, and one study shows that toxicity of certain carbon nanomaterials could appear to be proven by one test, while other tests would show no toxicity (link).

What Keeps the Failed “War on Drugs” Going?

Argentina’s federal court has bucked the U.S.-mandated war on drugs by decriminalizing personal drug use (link).  Judges said that punishing drug users only “creates an avalanche of cases targeting consumers without climbing up in the ladder of [drug] trafficking.”  It is interesting that, while a number of South American governments have moved to decriminalize drug use, the mainstream press in North America has been completely silent. 

A Dream of the Future

After a lifetime of thinking about the future, often with depressing and disastrous scenarios involved, I awoke from a dream of a brighter future this morning, and felt it was a good starting point for my first blog on the future.  I will do more focused study on this topic in the future, and do more reading of similar blogs as I find them (I have always read books and articles, and been involved in discussions with the smartest people I know, about what the future may hold given what we know today).

Here is the dream, as I recorded it in my planner/journal:  ————————–