Hacking Matter: Difference between revisions
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'''''Hacking Matter''''' is a 2003 book by [[Wil McCarthy]]. It deals with "[[programmable matter]]" (like [[colloid]]al films, bulk [[crystal]]s, and [[quantum dot]]s) that, he predicts, will someday be able mimic the properties of any natural [[atom]], and ultimately also non-natural atoms. McCarthy predicts that programmable matter will someday change human life profoundly, and that its users will have the ability to program matter itself - to change it, from a computer, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. In his [[science fiction]], he calls this technology "[[The Wellstone|Wellstone]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/09-programmable-matter-moves-from-sci-fi-to-sci-real|title=Programmable matter moves from sci-fi to real|publisher=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|author=Wil McCarthy|date=9 October 2008|accessdate=10 September 2014}}</ref> | '''''Hacking Matter''''' is a 2003 book by [[Wil McCarthy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003IEEES..40d..50M/abstract |website=The SAO Astrophysics Data System |access-date=11 December 2025}}</ref> It deals with "[[programmable matter]]" (like [[colloid]]al films, bulk [[crystal]]s, and [[quantum dot]]s) that, he predicts, will someday be able mimic the properties of any natural [[atom]], and ultimately also non-natural atoms. McCarthy predicts that programmable matter will someday change human life profoundly, and that its users will have the ability to program matter itself - to change it, from a computer, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. In his [[science fiction]], he calls this technology "[[The Wellstone|Wellstone]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/09-programmable-matter-moves-from-sci-fi-to-sci-real|title=Programmable matter moves from sci-fi to real|publisher=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|author=Wil McCarthy|date=9 October 2008|accessdate=10 September 2014}}</ref> | ||
The book includes interviews with researchers who are developing the technology, describes how they are learning to control its electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties, and speculates on its future development. | The book includes interviews with researchers who are developing the technology, describes how they are learning to control its electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties, and speculates on its future development. | ||
Latest revision as of 12:12, 11 December 2025
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Hacking Matter is a 2003 book by Wil McCarthy.[1] It deals with "programmable matter" (like colloidal films, bulk crystals, and quantum dots) that, he predicts, will someday be able mimic the properties of any natural atom, and ultimately also non-natural atoms. McCarthy predicts that programmable matter will someday change human life profoundly, and that its users will have the ability to program matter itself - to change it, from a computer, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. In his science fiction, he calls this technology "Wellstone".[2]
The book includes interviews with researchers who are developing the technology, describes how they are learning to control its electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties, and speculates on its future development.
References
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External links
- Book home page, includes free PDF version.
- Ultimate Alchemy. This article in Wired 9.10 was expanded into this book.
- "Beyond the Periodic Table: Artificial Atoms and Programmable Matter", Analog Science Fiction, Jan 2002