Ralph Merkle Quotes

• A potato can grow quite easily on a very small plot of land. With molecular manufacturing, we'll be able to have distributed manufacturing, which will permit manufacturing at the site using technologies that are low-cost and easily available.

  Ralph Merkle

  Technology, Land, Plot

  46 Copy quote

• If we can reduce the cost and improve the quality of medical technology through advances in nanotechnology, we can more widely address the medical conditions that are prevalent and reduce the level of human suffering.

  Ralph Merkle

  Technology, Suffering, Quality

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Ubiquity Interview, ubiquity.acm.org. July, 2000.

  104 Copy quote

• Nanotechnology will let us build computers that are incredibly powerful. We'll have more power in the volume of a sugar cube than exists in the entire world today.

  Ralph Merkle

  Powerful, World, Sugar

  106 Copy quote

• Nanotechnology is an idea that most people simply didn't believe.

  Ralph Merkle

  Believe, Ideas, People

  106 Copy quote

• The new technologies that we see coming will have major benefits that will greatly alleviate human suffering.

  Ralph Merkle

  Technology, Suffering, Benefits

  8 Copy quote

• We see an entire planet which has many limitations.

  Ralph Merkle

  Planets, Limitation

  7 Copy quote

• Machines built by human beings they will function correctly if we provide them with a very specific environment. But if that environment is changed they won't function at all.

  Ralph Merkle

  Machines, Environment, Function

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  7 Copy quote

• Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level, yet todays surgical tools are too large to deal with that kind of problem.

  Ralph Merkle

  Ill Health, Damage, Tools

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  6 Copy quote

• What we refer to as 'death' is just a set of symptoms that have proven resistant to treatment.

  Ralph Merkle

  Treatment, Symptoms, Proven

  6 Copy quote

• We are looking at a future where to a first approximation everyone is wealthy.

  Ralph Merkle

  Firsts, Wealthy, Approximation

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  4 Copy quote

• If you look at the various strategies available for dealing with a new technology, sticking your head in the sand is not the most plausible strategy.

  Ralph Merkle

  Technology, Decision, Looks

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Ubiquity Interview, ubiquity.acm.org. July, 2000.

  7 Copy quote

• As in any technological revolution, there will be winners and losers. On balance, everyone will come out ahead, although there will be particular companies that will not be able to cope with a new environment.

  Ralph Merkle

  Balance, Able, Revolution

  4 Copy quote

• One of the concepts essential to molecular manufacturing is that of a self-replicating manufacturing system. That concept has lagged behind in its acceptance.

  Ralph Merkle

  Acceptance, Self, Aquariums

  8 Copy quote

• It looks as though yields of over 10 times what we can currently grow per acre are feasible if you control the CO2 concentration, the humidity, the temperature, all the various factors that plants depend on to grow rapidly.

  Ralph Merkle

  Yield, Looks, Acres

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 1 - July 31, 2000.

  10 Copy quote

• Today we see a human population of over 6 billion people, many of whom have serious medical conditions, which either can't be treated or cannot be treated economically.

  Ralph Merkle

  People, Population, Today

  7 Copy quote

• If you think the technology is infeasible, you don't worry about what it might do and what its potential is.

  Ralph Merkle

  Technology, Thinking, Worry

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  8 Copy quote

• The first approximation in this future that we're looking at is that everyone will be physically well off. They will have a great abundance in material goods, and as a consequence, I think that will soften some of the conflicts we see now.

  Ralph Merkle

  Thinking, Firsts, Conflict

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  9 Copy quote

• Because of technological limits, there is a certain amount of food that we can produce per acre. If we were to have intensive greenhouse agriculture, we could have much higher production.

  Ralph Merkle

  Agriculture, Acres, Limits

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  15 Copy quote

• One of the things that we can say with confidence is that we will have much lighter, much stronger materials, and this will reduce the cost of air flight, and it will reduce the cost of rockets.

  Ralph Merkle

  Confidence, Air, Stronger

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  8 Copy quote

• Manufacturing takes place in very large facilities. If you want to build a computer chip, you need a giant semiconductor fabrication facility. But nature can grow complex molecular machines using nothing more than a plant.

  Ralph Merkle

  Giants, Needs, Machines

  7 Copy quote

• If you look at the human condition today, not everyone is well fed, has access to good medical care, or the physical basics that provide for a healthy and a happy life.

  Ralph Merkle

  Happy Life, Careers, Healthy

  21 Copy quote

• There are certain things that are inherently scarce. For example, there is only a certain amount of beachfront property in California. It is going to be scarce, it is going to be expensive.

  Ralph Merkle

  California, Example, Certain

  "Nanotechnology: Designs for the Future". Interview with John Gehl, ubiquity.acm.org. July 2000.

  4 Copy quote

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