Microscopic radio sets miniaturization record - LiveScience - MSNBC.com
"Researchers led by Alex Zetttl at the University of California, Berkeley have crafted a fully working radio from a single carbon nanotube 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Carbon nanotubes are man-made microscopic mesh rods composed entirely of carbon atoms.
Fixed between two electrodes, the nanotube vibrates and performs the four critical roles required to receive radio waves: antenna, tunable filter, amplifier and demodulator. Power is supplied by streaming electrons from an attached battery.
Its inventors have already used it to broadcast two songs: "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos and "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys."
Yikes, the Singularity is coming. Or maybe not. I read Kurzweil's book over my Canadian fishing trip, interesting concepts, but seems like sci-fi as much as anything else.
I should be careful, this makes more than one post on the subject. Don't want to be labeled a singulatarian, or as I've seen it described elsewhere, a "nerd's rapturist".
While fishing, I asked my dad if he would accept some sort of implant to increase memory, intellegence, or some other attribute. He immedietly answered no, at which point I pointed out the two artificial lens implants in his eyes - a result of two cataract operations. His immediate no changed to a possible yes. Going blind is no fun.
As a point of initial discussion, would you accept an implant that improved your memory? Would it change your mind if you had Altzheimer's, and the lack of an implant meant you would forget the names of your children?