The Hindu Business Line : Take control of the creation of technology

Neil Gershenfeld's FAB is important for two reasons: one, it's about `the coming revolution on your desktop — from personal computers to personal fabrication'; and, two, the author, who is director of MIT's CBA, or Centre for Bits and Atoms, speaks elaborately about the highly relevant applications of science in Indian villages. This book about `stories of these remarkable tools and their equally remarkable users around the world' is an exciting read that can propel you to think innovatively, says D. Murali.

IN HIS address to the nation on the eve of the 57th Republic Day, the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, spoke of five immediate national missions for scientists and technologists. The first was about increasing the efficiency of solar photovoltaic cells from 14 per cent to 45 per cent using nanotechnology.

The other four priorities the First Citizen listed were about: research in proteomics to identify disease-causing mechanisms; earthquake forecasting using multiple parameter precursors; mathematical model for predicting the quantum of rain using polarimetric radar; and convergence of the new technologies.

What is nanotechnology? It is "a branch of engineering that deals with the design and manufacture of extremely small electronic circuits and mechanical devices built at the molecular level of matter," defines http://whatis.techtarget.com. Nanotechnology, a.k.a. molecular manufacturing, is `a curious sort of technology,' writes Neil Gershenfeld in FAB, from Basic Books (www.basicbooks.com).

"It's the subject of billion-dollar research strategies and breathless press coverage, but very few of the serious scientists studying small things call their work nanotechnology." Examples that the author cites are of molecular biologists developing minimal cells `to create controllable bioreactors'; chemists working on `materials that self-assemble from molecular building blocks'; and device physicists busy with `more powerful information technologies based on manipulating individual atoms, electrons, and photons.'

Thus, the arrival of atomic-scale digital fabrication will not be discontinuous event, opines Gershenfeld. It's already here in rudimentary forms, and we will see more intersection of disciplines as nanotechnology grows.

The book is important for two reasons: one, it's about `the coming revolution on your desktop - from personal computers to personal fabrication'; and, two, the author, who is the director of MIT's CBA or Centre for Bits and Atoms (http://cba.mit.edu) speaks elaborately about the highly relevant applications of science in Indian villages.

"We can no longer afford to ignore nature's capabilities that have been neglected by conventional digital logic; it is at the boundary between the content of information and its physical representation that many of science's greatest technological, economic, and social opportunities and obstacles lie," declares CBA. One of its `grand challenge goals' is to create `it from bit,' or a universal assembler, as John von Neumann had envisioned.

Thus, the book begins with a discussion of PF or personal fabricator, which is `a machine that makes machines'. Instead of shopping for a product, you can `download or develop its description'; then, supply the PF with designs and raw materials and, presto, the product you want emerges.

Just-in-time education

Doesn't that sound too good to be true, a figment of imagination like the Aladdin's lamp? "They're a reality," assures Gershenfeld, and his book is about `stories of these remarkable tools and their equally remarkable users around the world'. He begins with a narration of the many surprises in the first batch of students in the MIT program `How to make (almost) anything'.

The class was something of `an intellectual pyramid scheme', recounts the author, talking about how students with relatively little technical experience worked on projects such as `an alarm clock that needs to be wrestled into turning off', `a Web browser for parrots', and `a portable personal space for screaming'.

Gershenfeld describes that the educational model that emerged was `just-in-time', where teaching was `on demand', instead of "the more traditional `just-in-case' model that covers a curriculum fixed in advance in the hopes that it will include something that will later be useful."

Personalisation of fabrication will "put control of the creation of technology back in the hands of its users," says the author, emphasising the need to refocus on tool-making.

Lest you worry about the prospect of `grey goo' caused by unchecked self-reproducing by nano-robots, which Eric Drexler painted in his 1986 book, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, Gershenfeld points out that the inverse of digital fabrication is digital recycling. "An object built with digital materials can contain enough information to describe its construction, and hence its deconstruction, so that an assembler can run in reverse to take it apart and reuse its raw materials."

The book is packed with innumerable examples and valuable anecdotes such as about the APT (Automatically Programmed Tools) of 1955; the $125-million Mars Climate Orbiter that was lost "because of a file format incompatibility"; and `the biggest surprise' that the author found in `rural India'.

He goes there to meet Anil Gupta, `a global guru of grassroots invention', of IIM Ahmedabad, with his `honeybee network', and `a database of ten thousand inventions'. Gershenfeld writes with wonder about his bicycle solution to apply fertiliser, motorcycle converted into a tractor, and bullock-generator.

"It was a humbling experience when Anil first introduced me to a group of these grassroots inventors," writes the author. "On their own they had managed to pick up a substantial materials science background, and were asking questions that went well beyond my own knowledge." They were already practising PF, putting materials exactly where they were required, rather than removing them from where they weren't needed. "That's the domain of additive fabrication processes," explains Gershenfeld.

Spiritual contemplation of natural sciences

Another example is of Vigyan Ashram, in a tiny village called Pabal, where the author meets S.S. Kalbag, radiating `an uncommon goodness', in "a retreat for the spiritual contemplation of the natural sciences rather than religion".

Gershenfeld finds in one of the `neat ferro-cement geodesic domes' a complete little chemistry laboratory, where a group of women were "performing simple tests, such as checking blood samples for diabetes and pregnancy, or water samples for impurities." Wish our parliamentarians spent the funds at their disposal on projects such as these.

The book narrates two examples of innovation at the Ashram. "The ground resistance meters that were used for locating water in the area cost Rs 25,000. At Vigyan Ashram, they bought one, stripped it apart, and from studying it figured out how to make them for just Rs 5,000."

The second innovation was the MechBull, a tractor `made out of spare jeep parts for Rs 60,000', and getting its fuel from castor seeds! There is a recurring rural demand for analytical instrumentation, notes the author, emphasising the need to interface `bits and bulls'.

Gershenfeld takes a walk down the `Silicon Alley' in Delhi, where "every imaginable electronic artefact is bought and sold from crowded stalls'. He sees how `Sharp' satellite receivers are made in a back-room, "where an engineer was busy taking apart last-generation video products from developed markets". Assembly was done in many houses nearby.

"After all, Sharp and its partners had assembled a kind of fractal, hierarchical, entrepreneurial tree that spanned India," comments Gershenfeld. "They were producing and distributing surprisingly advanced electronic instruments out of sight of India's academic and industrial establishment."

Sugata Mitra's `hole in the wall' is well known as an instance of ushering IT into urban slums through `minimally invasive education'.

Ever heard of Gen Arjun Ray's `Operation Sadbhavana', in Jammu & Kashmir? He sought to help isolated communities link with the rest of the world by providing Internet-connected computers. "By not lobbing a few extra cannon shells, he could afford to make these community investments," writes Gershenfeld, after a visit to the Himalayas.

"Not too long afterwards, I was in Washington, DC, briefing a roomful of army generals. These were the best and the brightest of their generation, there to get guidance on the military implications of emerging technologies," narrates the author. When he told them "the story of Gen Ray and his interest in local labs for network deployment as an investment in community stability," the assembled generals understood "Ray's cost-benefit calculation", but "they weren't sure how they could act on it".

Perhaps, because there's no "Pentagon Office of Advanced Technology for Not Fighting a War," postulates the author.

A book that can propel you to think innovatively this weekend!

Economics@TheHindu.co.in

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