This reminds me a bit of arguing about words and definitions.
Really the question is whether nanotech is an idea worth pursuing. It is relevant how much of a stretch it is from what it known to what is claimed to be possible. There is nothing that is against science in Drexler’s writings. The slow progress speaks against the most optimistic claims. Chemists talk about the sticky fat fingers problem. Biology has lots of repair mechanisms that make it look like the problem is hard. But I think given the enormous benefits it looks worth following up on.
You could say similar things about hot fusion, and the claims that we can support 11B people on first world living standards on renewable energy.
Agree. Although, maybe there is a clear widespread meaning of science (as Yudkowsky defines it) in English… But if not, then it turns out to be a dispute about the sound of a tree falling in the forest, it is worth using unambiguous phrases like “experimentally proven” knowledge instead of “scientific”, but then this becomes an obvious tautology. And just like here, an alarm sounds in my head when I read a post about “scientific, legal and rational evidence.”
This reminds me a bit of arguing about words and definitions.
Really the question is whether nanotech is an idea worth pursuing. It is relevant how much of a stretch it is from what it known to what is claimed to be possible. There is nothing that is against science in Drexler’s writings. The slow progress speaks against the most optimistic claims. Chemists talk about the sticky fat fingers problem. Biology has lots of repair mechanisms that make it look like the problem is hard. But I think given the enormous benefits it looks worth following up on.
You could say similar things about hot fusion, and the claims that we can support 11B people on first world living standards on renewable energy.
Agree. Although, maybe there is a clear widespread meaning of science (as Yudkowsky defines it) in English… But if not, then it turns out to be a dispute about the sound of a tree falling in the forest, it is worth using unambiguous phrases like “experimentally proven” knowledge instead of “scientific”, but then this becomes an obvious tautology. And just like here, an alarm sounds in my head when I read a post about “scientific, legal and rational evidence.”