Drexler's future was one where everything would be built from the bottom up by tiny machines that would place each atom with absolute precision. For the first time humankind would be able to build large scale objects that were perfect on the atomic scale. Due to its natural strength diamond would become the material of choice for the construction of everything from rocket engines to houses. And fleets of nanomachines would circulate in our blood stream repairing damaged cells to reverse the ageing process and effectively making us immortal. But these are just visions of the future and although we have begun to manipulate individual atoms none of Drexler's dreams are even close to happening, yet.
Expensive toys Playing with things on atomic scales require some pretty expensive toys.
We have started to develop the beginnings of a nanotechnology tool kit. The STM is a microscope designed to look at surfaces atom by atom. An extremely sharp needle can manipulate single atoms, an ability vividly demonstrated by an IBM scientist who used an STM to draw his company's logo with just 35 xenon atoms. Building one of Drexler's proposed nano machines atom by atom with an STM would take many thousands of years. An alternative is to create an 'assembler', a nano scale device which can be programmed to build more complex nano machines.