>2. A new $495 million National Nanotechnology Initiative.
Nanotechnology - the ability to manipulate individual atoms and molecules -
could revolutionize the 21st century in the same way that the transistor
and the Internet led to the Information Age. <

Let's all remember, the President proposes, but Congress disposes. That said, if the response of the House Science Committee is indicative, we may actually see bucks allocated for this to see a RealPlayer webcast of the testimony given by Smalley and Merkle, among others, to the Comittee, check out the link below.

Note that Smalley and Merkle are talking about MNT of the type that we are talking about (in fact, Merkle is asked about the terminology towards the end of the video) whereas the other two, particularly the guy from Sandia (he works on MEMS) are talking about much more of a mixed bag. I think Merkle had an important point in stressing the importance of systems able to self replicate. Note also that the time horizon of the private sector is a question addressed at length. The video is about 80 minutes long.


http://www.netcastinc.com/ram/ushr/basic_062299.ram


Greg