2019 by BRAM E. GIEBEN (AKA TEXTURE)

Chapter 2 - TIMELINE

Source: New Scientist Magazine
Dated: 22 January, 2018
Format: Unexpurgated Transcript

Nanotechnology – The Post-Industrial Revolution: A Timeline

1959
Scientist Richard Feynman delivers the seminal lecture ‘There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom’ at CalTech, proposing the new science of nanotechnology.

1974
Norio Taniguchi defines the term 'nanotechnology' in a paper: the science of nanotechnology is laid down in practical terms for the first time.

1989
K. Eric Drexler publishes ‘Engines of Creation,’ popularising the ongoing research and development, by himself and others, in the field of nanotech. The book examines a whole host of speculative futures arising from the coming nanotechnological revolution.

1990 – 2005
Nanotechnological techniques begin to be used in commercial products, weapons technology, and medical science.

2007
The first Atomic Force Microscope to be mass produced for medical usage is introduced to American and European hospitals.

2010
The first self-replicating assemblers are patented by inventor Vincent LeSanto – he makes his first billion in construction.

State-funded Iranian scientists develop and patent successful, nanite-constructed solar panels, enriching the nation massively – they become the major suppliers of electrical energy to the Middle-East region, and the newly established Russian Free States.

2011
By the beginning of 2011, the Iranians have leased the patents to the newly-formed US company Utopia Atomtech, who become the second-largest energy supplier in European Confederation and the US.

Utopia Atomtech develop and release several new nanotech products, many for medical use, such as cancer-destroying nanites, and nanites for repairing damaged heart tissue.

The United Nations World Hunger Taskforce commission Utopia Atomtech and several smaller firms to begin large-scale production of self-replicating proteins, for the purpose of feeding the starving populations of the poorer African nations. As the African regions hunger problems begin to disappear, the program is rolled out, at almost no cost, across the developing world.

2012
The USA forms a new congressional court, The Science Council, based on a legal model, which has absolute jurisdiction over nanotech development – companies now have to present evidence to the Science Council before developing or releasing new nanotech products. Similar courts are created in the European Confederation, at a national level, despite allegations of the US Science Court’s ineffectual nature.

2013
The USA, China, the Free Russian States and the European Confederation sign the Nanotechnology Non-Proliferation treaty, agreeing to halt research into weapons applications of nanotech products. Non-signatories in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, and in much of Communist South America, are heavily sanctioned. By the end of the year, there is a worldwide consensus on the non-proliferation of nanotech weaponry.

LeSanto Corporation release Waistlines, a nanotech dieting product based on L-Lactic Acid molecules. Vincent LeSanto becomes the wealthiest businessman in the world.

2014
A survey commissioned by a European think-tank on nanotech, the Galbraith Institute, estimates that as much as 50% of new construction worldwide is now using nanotechnology, and that as much as 30% of international food supplies are now made from self-replicating proteins, with the figure much higher in Third World nations.

2015
Breakthroughs in nano-scale quantum computers at MIT and Harvard revolutionise information storage capacity – all government and many corporate computers are switched over to solid-state quantum networks.

Huge advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence begin to revolutionize modern computer networks, with most large companies deferring trend analysis and informatics to AI systems.

Agora Systems, the first publicly-traded company run solely by an AI computer network, is the fastest-growing stock on the world market.

2016
Apple Computers bring the first public-use quantum servers online, to run super-fast internet connections for their end users. Windows Ultima, Microsoft’s rival product, is plagued by viruses and network slowdowns, and is eventually withdrawn and replaced by Windows Ultima II.

2017
The nanotechnology backlash is united in its praise of skeptic Professor John Romney’s pop-science book, ‘Death in Life.’ The book tops the bestseller list for eighteen consecutive months, making Romney an international celebrity.

2018
The US Government commission LeSanto Corporation to research using self-replicating nanites to purify the damaged Ozone Layer. Project Indigo is due to go before the Science Court for final approval in June 2019.