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  • I was done in a couple of other video shown.

  • We're gonna talk about those links between physics and computing on dhe.

  • Again, we're back to the ultimate limits of computation on Dhe.

  • The Brooke I have in Front of me is a book that has caused a massive amount of consternation over the last few decades.

  • It's by a guy called Carrick Drexler.

  • Now, the reason it's perhaps of interest to compete putrefied audiences.

  • 1992 more start standing computer science book.

  • Well, what Drexler is talking about directions.

  • A very polarizing figure is.

  • Can we do computing with individual atoms?

  • Can we think of instead of compiling cold?

  • Could we compile a matter?

  • Or to put it in another way?

  • Drexler didn't put it in these terms, but could we do three D printing with individual atoms?

  • Could you use Those are very, you know, very smallest building block.

  • And if we could, that's a remarkable technology.

  • That means we, you know, because are some of the more extreme proponents of Drexler's vision I had in mind.

  • We could, for example, envisioned some technology, which is practically looks like a microwave.

  • We'd go outside, we'd get some grass we come.

  • We put it into our thing that looks like a microwave oven with press a button and the Dane.

  • 30 seconds later, I pops a stick.

  • This is like Replicators and stuff.

  • It's exactly like Star Trek Replicators.

  • One pan fried catfish.

  • We talked about this on one of previous videos that you guys have manipulated atoms and made a switch with that thes sorts of basic building blocks are being pushed around at the minute they are on dhe.

  • But Drexler's vision is much more to grand.

  • Or that now you're actually claims that we should be able to take any lump of matter unconverted not quite into any other lump of matter, but certainly to break those chemical bonds down on former structure to a predefined blueprint.

  • Importantly, he's not saying that we have, you know, that we're going to disobey the laws of physics.

  • It's not saying that we're operating in some strange parallel universe with the normal laws of physics.

  • Don't work.

  • But here's, for example, talking about systems like Diamond.

  • He spends a lot of time with Diamond, which is a strongly bonded substance.

  • You know, Diamond is fairly hard tight, Covalin bonds holding the atoms in place.

  • And it makes the argument that we should be able to under those circumstances, If we can control the bonding on a single chemical bond by single chemical bomb bases, the atoms will stay in place on.

  • We should be able to build up different structures.

  • So he focused a lot of his time on diamond.

  • Um, I can show you a short video shown.

  • Okay, so we have this microwave object, and on that, the side here with these canisters.

  • What?

  • We have a very simple food.

  • Stocks are very simple stock.

  • That's prehensile.

  • Simple molecules.

  • Ex seal to Water CEO May thin, perhaps molecules that can be broken down into component atoms and then built up into something bigger.

  • And just how much bigger will see in a second on dhe curling, et cetera.

  • Quite how it all works.

  • We don't know.

  • This is science fiction, but like the best science fiction, it makes you think.

  • Is this possible?

  • Could we manipulate matter like this out there in computer file and think about this?

  • Does this disappear into the laws of physics on You know, Rex has been widely castigated, perhaps unfairly, I think, certainly unfairly, in some cases, because these are these are grand ideas, grand visions that are worth worth exploring.

  • Are we anywhere near this?

  • No, we're nowhere near this.

  • But you can see what's happening now is we're zooming in, and now we're down to the 10 nanometer level.

  • So just to give you an idea and atoms a few, there's a fraction off a nanometer across the country.

  • Even animators want to attend nano meters.

  • We're talking about 6 300 out something like that across.

  • So here's these molecules streaming in, so this gets it see to hitch to.

  • What's happening is they're being fed through moving across.

  • It looks very much like the type of machinery were on mills on factories were used to in the macroscopic world, except it's all shrunk down.

  • Each one of these single spears is a single atom, and what's happening is you're getting at, um, album transfer.

  • You're breaking these molecules down.

  • You can see what's happening now transferring them across to these tips.

  • These probes.

  • This is where scanning probably close.

  • It was to get, like myself, get very, very interested in that we have a sharp probe we bring it in close to a surface moving back and forth.

  • This probe is atomic Lee Sharp, so it allows us to see single atoms and single molecules on manipulate single atoms and single monitors.

  • So some scaling for my cross comes At least look at this and think world parts of that we can do problem is very, very small part of it.

  • We can take a move in the video on that's stroll through various different elements.

  • What happens later on as we have different blocks that are transferred across different elements Quite how any of this works, we don't know.

  • Where does it get its energy source?

  • We don't know, and out of the end pops a laptop, the argument being that what's happened is that those very simple molecules at the start by building them up, manipulating the very individual atoms we've compiled matter into this final final form.

  • So this video that you said this is science fiction.

  • This isn't science fiction as far as you have written.

  • This is Drexler.

  • Drexler believes this is this is something that that would be possible in the future.

  • Many of us have many issues surfaces in particular a particular issue in terms of it looks very simple that we just get some blocks and with snap them together.

  • In reality, surface physics is incredibly surface chemistry is incredibly, incredibly challenging.

  • Thio Surmount Put the again.

  • The ideas here are fascinating.

  • It really is.

  • Could we Could we do this even at the level off?

  • You know, how would we get a power source here for that little sorter for the molecules?

  • Forget about a whole laptop.

  • Let's let's reduces all the way down.

  • Can we do information processing with single atoms of single molecules or groups of atoms of groups, groups of molecules?

  • Can we translate all that complexity down on think?

  • Can we, on the basis of individual atoms and molecules, do information processing?

  • And, yes, we've done that.

  • The nano science community has done that.

  • I suspect not many computer file and are familiar with this.

  • It's a beautiful, beautiful piece of work and stoning.

  • The elegant piece of work from, uh, Donna glows Groups of Don's retired now, but his group at IBM all Mardin was searched.

  • Labs was responsible for a lot of the pioneering work in number sense.

  • Indeed, eyeglass group is responsible for manipulating atoms for the very first time on what they spelled out was the IBM local.

  • This is beyond elegant.

  • They don't computing information processing if set up logic.

  • It's with molecules on dhe they don't know really fascinating, where because they've effectively used a domino effect in terms of high molecules, interact with each other to transfer information from imports to, I put on, they've done on the basis of CEO carbon monoxide.

  • Very, very small quantities.

  • You don't have to worry about any poisoning or anything like that.

  • Also, in an ultrahigh vacuum, all sword.

  • Very, very low temperatures four degrees above absolute table.

  • So it's not toxic a tall, but they put them down on a copper surface.

  • When the CEO molecules go down in the copper surface, they absorb in a number of different states they absorb like this where it forms this little dark parts.

  • The red dot represents a sea or molecules, or it forms this type of structure where the two molecules are beside each other, which is a timer to see our molecules together.

  • Or it forms this structure, which is a trauma three molecules together.

  • How did they emit this.

  • How did they see the individual molecules?

  • Will it comes back to that scanning probe technology Sharp probe Closer surface moved back and forth on dhe.

  • If the probe is atomic is sharp, you can see individual atoms and molecules, so what they do is they manipulate the C O molecules.

  • There's a seal molecule so you can operate in a mouldering scan.

  • All you offer something very straightforward.

  • You push the probe towards the surface, and you do that when you move it across the surface so you can manipulate an image just by moving the height of the probe above the surface.

  • So what they do is they set up these arrangements.

  • They set up timers Diamond, diamond, diamond, Diamond, diamond.

  • Then what they do is they bring in another molecules, this one of the green arrow.

  • Bring it close on what that does.

  • Is it triggers?

  • See the red dots of the positions and seal.

  • It triggers this cascade process whereby they all rearrange just like a seven dominoes.

  • They're not falling.

  • The molecules are rearranging themselves.

  • It's not like the falling over, but the rearranging themselves.

  • Now that's clever enough.

  • That's really clever and a little.

  • This is 2002.

  • Although it's 16 years ago, it's still like an incredible, phenomenal people.

  • Just not reversible.

  • Process that No, because dominates on easy on this block.

  • So what?

  • What?

  • We're not talking about it.

  • So this is this is the difference in fundamental science and technological application.

  • First of all, you know, if we were to take this type off approach, I think we're gonna be hard pressed to sell it to anyone because most people are not gonna want to top the computer open liquid helium.

  • That's the first thing pretty, pretty complicated and irritating to keep an ultrahigh vacuum going.

  • Moreover, the bandwidth is about 0.1, or maybe 0.1 of her hurts because you have to set this entire system up and then set it off.

  • It's not reversible the roar of the systems for which it is reversible, but not this.

  • But this is this is exploring the limits.

  • What they do here is they developed different gates by setting up different arrangements of molecules.

  • So here's one example of a non get whereby you got import, ex and input Why here.

  • And so by bringing in molecules either by causing cascade here or causing a cascade here or causing a cascade of both points.

  • Then the output here will change.

  • So basically here if we bring Ah molecule in here to set a one here.

  • But there's zero here.

  • There's no molecule here.

  • Then what happens is there's no change.

  • The aiport remains.

  • However, I'm similar to the opposite way.

  • However, in this case, if you bring in a tripping molecule here and tripping molecule here or control molecule here, then what happens is there is a big chance and you can read that as a change in the airport.

  • So what we have is a logic.

  • It mutated molecules which is is made out of this molecular casket.

  • Okay, it were operates incredibly slowly.

  • Okay, It's under extreme conditions.

  • Borders, a piece of elegant science.

  • It's phenomenal.

  • Why did they need is incredibly low temperatures.

  • Why do they need to be at four degrees above absolute zero?

  • The problems with this system with molecules on metal surfaces, what happens is if you want the temperature of even slightly 10 2030 degrees, something like that.

  • Then Thurman motion kicks in on the molecules, starts to wonder across the surface, so these beautifully engineered structures you've made will fall apart.

  • Just instituted diffusion, effectively grainy in motion is not quite prone in motion with the same type of thing.

  • So what you need to do is find systems whereby this type of diffusion doesn't kick in.