Nanobot Swarm!

In 1996, I traveled to another world in my mind. No, this was not due to a mind-altering substance I had taken, but instead because of a sci-fi novel that showed me what was possible.

In this world, ultra-tiny machines were everywhere, and there were trillions of them. These nanites, or nanobots (as most probably know them today) were constantly scrubbing the air clean of pollutants and harmful microbes. There were even tiny robots that could be injected into the bloodstream to enhance a person's eyesight, reflexes, or even intelligence.

It felt as though nanobots had been injected into my own brain, enhancing my imagination.

This simple concept—and the way that Neil Stephenson spelled this out in The Diamond Age, with explanations that jibed with my understanding of physics and engineering—opened my mind up to the idea that nanotechnology was a very real possibility, and that led me down a path of discovery that continues today, almost three decades later.

I want to bring you along wi…