ABSTRACT
Nanotechnology is the creation of K. Eric Drexler and is based on the premise that if we can make self-replicating machines small enough, in the end we will be able to create molecular sized factories and manipulate matter atom by atom, reconstituting and creating anything. Architects must research these avenues as it is architecture where the philosophical issues of the 'aliveness' of smart materials will become paramount. As one does not normally write about cyberspace without crediting the word's creator, William Gibson, it does not seem right to evoke nanotechnology without crediting its main advocate and designer, Drexler. The next age might well be the Panacea Age, characterised by the widespread use of nanotechnology as an internalised prosthetic. It is clear that in the future it will be harder to separate the augmented human form, or nanocyborg, from its utility ether; and further, the concept of weather have to be reassessed in the light of the Nano-Desktop-World and the Nano-Dreamtime.
