There is ample evidence that MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms is
directed by a genius. Neil Gershenfeld has pulled together
twenty research groups from across campus. He has inspired them
to produce impressive results in fields as diverse as
biomolecule motors and cheap networked light switches. Neil
teaches a wildly popular course called "How to make (almost)
anything", showing techies and non-techies alike how to use
rapid prototyping equipment to make projects that they
themselves are interested in. And even that is just the start.
He has designed and built "Fab Labs" — rooms with only $20,000
worth of rapid-prototyping equipment, located in remote areas of
remote countries, that are being used to make crucial products.
Occasionally he talks to rooms full of military generals about
how installing networked computers can defuse a war zone by
giving people better things to do than fight. So when Neil
Gershenfeld says that there is no way to build large complex
nanosystems using traditional engineering, I list