Ming the Mechanic:
Open Source Silicon

The NewsLog of Flemming Funch
 Open Source Silicon2003-12-10 14:22
3 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

It is not just software that can be open source. Slashdot writes about an open source chip design. Well, it is still related to software, but it is a step further.

Imagine for a moment the not-too-distant future when cheap nanotech matter compilers are available that can build stuff from basic atoms. It then becomes all-important to have easy access to good design blueprints for the stuff we need and want.

I would guess that for people who build complicated physical things today, like cars, there are a lot of intellectual property issues involved. The patents for the fuel injectors and the airbags and the transmission, and so forth, for hundreds of different pieces - they probably are owned by different companies, and complicated contracts and license agreements need to be worked out. Which is not such a big deal when we're talking about centralized production and billion dollar production plants and companies with 10s of thousands of people. But if I had the actual capability to build the car out of atoms directly in my garage, those issues would kill the whole thing.

So, we need high quality open source plans for building *everything*.


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3 comments

10 Dec 2003 @ 16:50 by maxtobin : Ahhh indeed!!
Abrave new world Flemming where we share the common wisdom and knowhow as a sacred human property and the "channel" for divine inspiration knows and acknowledges this. Oh to be the dreamers eh?  


10 Dec 2003 @ 17:16 by ming : Captain Picard says ...
"Make it so!"  


10 Dec 2003 @ 17:32 by bushman : Hmm.
Remind the captian what happened when Wesley Crusher let 2 nanites interact and they escaped into the envirorment of the ship.  


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