Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics, and Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Our World.

DOUGLAS MULHALL Imagine a machine that could make a three-dimensional object on your desktop. This idea isn't so far-fetched. Prosthetics manufacturers already use scanning software and fabricators to make personalized artificial limbs. According to Mulhall, many science fiction-type technologies are on the horizon. Advances in robotics and nanotechnology--the ability to manipulate items at a molecular scale--are driving these new inventions. We may soon be able to change the color of cars and clothes on a whim and deploy machines in our bodies that scour our arteries and prevent heart disease. The author, an environmental-software consultant, illustrates how these changes could help us cope with natural disasters and improve our health. He adds, however, that new technologies may backfire if people become overdependent on them. Ethical issues will emerge, as well. Robots may have intelligence that surpasses our own. Will they deserve a Bill of Rights? Mulhall examines the many potential effects of these machines on us and our environment. Prometheus, 2002, 392 p., b&w photos, hardcover, $28.00.