The Future is Looking Bright With the Emergence of Utility Fog
Michelangelo once said…
“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
This presents the idea that any chunk of mass can be whittled down into any sculpture that the artist desires. You can think of nanotechnology as the exact opposite of this concept of starting with something big and breaking it down until you construct what you want. For years now, scientists have been exploring the world of nanotechnology; building cars and robots atom by atom.
Nanotechnology and its current applications
Nanotechnology is defined as anything in the nanoscale or one-billionth of a meter. To put that into perspective, the diameter of a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers!But what use do we have for technologies so small? Why does it matter if we can manipulate atoms to look like cathedrals or our favorite cartoon characters? Well, it turns out being able to change the chemical and physical properties of elements has applications beyond our discovery.
Graphene is an example of a revolutionary discover in the nanotech field. Graphene is an allotrope of carbon atoms laid out on a 2D plane in a hexagonal lattice. It is extremely conductive and malleable. Scientists have found ways to form this molecule into extremely useful products.
Its high conductivity allows for carbon nanotube capable of electron flow far quicker than copper. Flexible displays like the new Samsung Galaxy Fold are now on the market and anti-corrosion graphene paint that can last centuries is being coated on walls across the world.
Other applications include smaller transistors, which have allowed scientists to create faster computer and higher core counts in computer processors. Drug delivery to specific cells has become exponentially safer through the past ten years with nano-bots capable of carrying drugs through bloodstreams.
Despite all of these innovative implications, one has caught my, and many other scientists around the globe’s, eye: Utility Fog.
What Is Utility Fog?
Utility fog is a concept in nanotechnology where trillions of nano-bots called foglets, specifically 16 million per square inch are deployed around the world and everyone is given access to them at any time.
The functions of these bots would be endless from instantly forming into 10 story buildings to allowing humans to fly! In this imaginary fog town, the possibilities would be endless. One day the city may look like the lost city of Atlantis and Tatooine the next. But how will this work?
The foglets will be made of Aluminum oxide: a highly conductive, and cheap metal that is far from lacking in nature. The foglets will have a tensile strength of only 1000 psi. That’s 1/36th the strength of steel!
The foglets will be powered by a combination of oxygen extracted from the surrounding air and a hydrogen fuel tank within the shell of the body. The foglets will communicate with both the mother device (iPhone, Smart Fridge, Tesla, etc.) and between each other using a built in optical sensor to intercept waves. The processor within would use rod logic computers made using carbon nanotubes.
From a physical standpoint, the foglets will have twelve limbs each containing three “fingers” at the end all arranged on a dodecahedron which will contain the hardware. When off, the foglets will be arranged in a lattice form just as graphene is.
There are so many advantages to having Utility Fog in our society. Safety as a whole would improve tremendously with the foglets acting as harmless airbags, assuming we’ll use cars by then, and cushions to break falls of children and the elderly. As previously mentioned, construction and factories would be obsolete as buildings and household items would simply be downloaded onto a drive and spawned at the push of a button.
However, there are still some problems that come up whenever discussing the future of this advancement.
For example, is it ethical to rely solely on a machine and some AI? Should we be distributing so much power and draining responsibilities for our planet? Will someone hack and abuse the Utility Fog?
Also, there are some technical problems such as breathing the fog as it will constantly be everywhere in the air. And, chemists are trying to figure out a way to use carbon atoms as the base as they are much more conductive hence effective but crystalize into diamonds which’s high surface area can be “fuel-air explosive”.
The future is promising for nanotechnology and the Utility Fog alike. Soon we will be able to manipulate single atoms with ease, morphing them into whatever we desire.
About Me:
Hope you enjoyed reading my article on Utility Fog! Leave a comment below or email me at mylespsherman@gmail.com if you’re interested in talking!
