Originally published two decades ago, K. Eric Drexler’s classic, thought-provoking examination of nanotechnology is every bit as relevant today, if not moreso. Presented in its entirety on Drexler’s own website, the book makes a very concrete case for molecular assembler technology’s inevitability, the strength of which is diminished not one bit by the fact that gains in the field have, thus far, been fewer and more far between than some might have guessed upon reading the book in earlier decades.

Far from timid, Drexler’s book wrestles with the difficult moral and philosophical questions which will accompany the emergence of molecular assemblers, outlining a wide array of possible consequences for such technology, not all of them appealing. Nanotechnology could allow us to live as immortals amidst a sea of (almost) limitless resources. It could also lead to the extermination of humankind.

My favourite chapter deals with the ways in which nanotechnology will facilitate the colonisation of space, allowing us to harvest resources from asteroids, sail on sunlight, and build whole continents in orbit.