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Applications of nanotechnology.
Nanotech will unify the technology industry: bio-tech and electro-tech will become one field. The ability to manipulate at the molecular and atomic level has sweeping applications, from the death of the silicone based trasistor and the birth of the quantum transistor to the manipulation of cells, viruses, DNA/RNA programming etc. But even nano-technology is an extension of 1940s physics. Biological nanotech applications of 15-25 years from now will equal and exceed the semi-conductor revolution of the later 20th century. Just as the microchip revolutionized business and society, nano biotech will revolutionize our personal lives and have sweeping socio-econmic implications, and raise many moral/ethical issues along the way.
That being said, we are long overdue for a new fundamental scientific discovery and I think this will be related to filling in the blanks of the standard particle model of physics (proving higgs boson existence, etc) and lead to the long sought after GUT (grand unified theory) of physics. Our ability to apply this new understading of the universe probably won't have real-world applications for 50, 75 or 100 years, but those applications could be mind-bending: inter-galactic space travel, teleportation, telepathic communication, limitless electric power... if we master the quantum world.. what we define as "life" or "existence" could fundamentally change.
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I died.
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