What's just as revolutionary is the realization that the process of constructing complex information tools at the molecular level is not limited to computers. Using biochemistry to build sophisticated devices is a technique that has very broad applications. Everything that we can touch in the world is made up of molecules. Nanotechnology is to the physical world what the Internet is to information. It is a tool for self-organization, a means to the development of novel combinations, a method of building sophisticated large structures from the bottom up.
Biochemistry is a broadly-understood, straightforward realm of engineering.
This broad similarity between today's Internet economy and the near-future nanotech economy should give one pause. In some countries, inflation has given way to deflation, as competitive pressure drives down the prices of information-based goods. Most of us alive today will know the answers to these questions. Sooner than we think. Sooner, in fact, than we may be ready for.