The next step in nanotechnology | George Tulevski

Translator: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

譯者: 易帆 余 審譯者: SF Huang

Let's imagine a sculptor building a statue,

想像有一個雕刻師，

just chipping away with his chisel.

用他的雕刻刀刻畫著一個雕像。

米開朗基羅對這樣的景象 給予雅緻的詮釋：

Michelangelo had this elegant way of describing it when he said,

"Every block of stone has a statue inside of it,

「每一塊石頭的背後， 都隱藏著一尊雕像

等待著雕刻者去發掘。」

and it's the task of the sculptor to discover it."

But what if he worked in the opposite direction?

但如果他反過來做呢？

Not from a solid block of stone,

不是從一顆結實的石頭開始，

but from a pile of dust,

而是從一堆散沙開始，

somehow gluing millions of these particles together to form a statue.

設法把好幾百萬顆的小沙粒 黏成一座雕像。

I know that's an absurd notion.

我知道這想法有點荒謬，

It's probably impossible.

可能辦不到。

你唯一可以讓一堆沙 變成雕像的方法，

The only way you get a statue from a pile of dust

is if the statue built itself --

就是讓雕像自我組建起來——

if somehow we could compel millions of these particles to come together

想辦法把數以百萬的小顆粒匯集起來

to form the statue.

成為一座雕像。

Now, as odd as that sounds,

這聽起來有點怪，

that is almost exactly the problem I work on in my lab.

但這幾乎就是我的實驗室 正在努力解決的問題。

我不是用石頭建造的，

I don't build with stone,

I build with nanomaterials.

我是用奈米材料建造的。

They're these just impossibly small, fascinating little objects.

它們真的小到不行， 相當迷人的小物體。

They're so small that if this controller was a nanoparticle,

如果這個奈米顆粒 是這個遙控器的大小，

a human hair would be the size of this entire room.

那麼人類的頭髮 就相當於現場整個空間的大小。

And they're at the heart of a field we call nanotechnology,

而它們就是奈米科技領域的核心，

which I'm sure we've all heard about,

我確定這些大家都已經聽說過了，

and we've all heard how it is going to change everything.

也都聽過它將如何改變我們的世界。

When I was a graduate student,

在我還是研究生時，

it was one of the most exciting times to be working in nanotechnology.

能在奈米科技領域工作 是件令人相當興奮的事。

There were scientific breakthroughs happening all the time.

隨時都有科學性的突破發展。

The conferences were buzzing,

到處都是研討會，

there was tons of money pouring in from funding agencies.

基金公司也會投入相當多的資金。

And the reason is

原因就是，

當物體變得很小的時候，

when objects get really small,

they're governed by a different set of physics that govern ordinary objects,

它們運作的物理模式， 與我們所接觸到一般尺寸物體的

物理運作模式與特性是不同的。

like the ones we interact with.

我們稱這個物理現象為：量子力學。

We call this physics quantum mechanics.

意思就是， 你只要稍微改變它們的內容，

And what it tells you is that you can precisely tune their behavior

just by making seemingly small changes to them,

你就能精準地調整它們運作的行為，

like adding or removing a handful of atoms,

例如，增加或移除一些原子，

或者扭轉它的材質。

or twisting the material.

It's like this ultimate toolkit.

它像是一個終極工具包。

You really felt empowered; you felt like you could make anything.

你會感覺渾身是勁； 彷彿可以創造任何東西一樣。

And we were doing it --

我們一直都在做這件事 ──

我們指的是我那一代的研究生。

and by we I mean my whole generation of graduate students.

We were trying to make blazing fast computers using nanomaterials.

我們試著用奈米材料建造出 超快速的電腦。

We were constructing quantum dots

我們建造的「量子點」

that could one day go in your body and find and fight disease.

可能有一天會進入到你的體內 尋找並對抗疾病。

There were even groups trying to make an elevator to space

甚至有其它團隊正在

using carbon nanotubes.

嘗試用奈米碳管建造太空電梯。

You can look that up, that's true.

你可以搜尋一下，這是真的。

Anyways, we thought it was going to affect

總之，我們認為它將會對

all parts of science and technology, from computing to medicine.

我們的科學及技術， 從電腦到醫藥產生影響。

And I have to admit,

我必須承認，

I drank all of the Kool-Aid.

有關奈米的所有東西，我照單全收。

I mean, every last drop.

對其盲從癡迷地無可救藥。

But that was 15 years ago,

但那是 15 年前的事了，

and --

我們

fantastic science was done, really important work.

神奇的科學界 完成了很多重要的工作，

We've learned a lot.

我們學到了很多。

但當時我們無法把 這些科學轉換成新的科技 ──

We were never able to translate that science into new technologies --

into technologies that could actually impact people.

可以真正地影響人類的科技。

And the reason is, these nanomaterials --

原因是，這些奈米材料 ──

they're like a double-edged sword.

像是把雙面刃。

The same thing that makes them so interesting --

奈米之所以特別有趣， 在於 ──

their small size --

其超小的尺寸，

also makes them impossible to work with.

但這也是造成它們 無法被操作的原因。

就好比用一堆散沙 建造起一座雕像一樣。

It's literally like trying to build a statue out of a pile of dust.

And we just don't have the tools that are small enough to work with them.

而我們還沒有尺寸 這麼小的工具來操作它們。

But even if we did, it wouldn't really matter,

但即使我們有，也真的不重要，

because we couldn't one by one place millions of particles together

因為我們不會一個個地 把這幾百萬顆的小顆粒結合一起

to build a technology.

去建立出一項科技。

So because of that,

因此，

所有的承諾與興奮

all of the promise and all of the excitement

也只是說說而已。

has remained just that: promise and excitement.

We don't have any disease-fighting nanobots,

我們根本沒有任何 可以對抗疾病的奈米機器人，

there's no elevators to space,

也沒有可以到外太空的電梯，

and the thing that I'm most interested in, no new types of computing.

也沒有我最感興趣的新型電腦。

我說的最後一個，真的很重要。

Now that last one, that's a really important one.

We just have come to expect

我們一直認為

電腦的計算能力能永無止境地突破。

the pace of computing advancements to go on indefinitely.

We've built entire economies on this idea.

我們所有經濟運轉的模式， 是在這樣的理想下所建立的。

And this pace exists

而這樣進步的速度的確存在，

because of our ability to pack more and more devices

因為我們有能力可以把 越來越多的設備

onto a computer chip.

整合到一片電腦晶片上。

And as those devices get smaller,

當這些設備越來越小時、

they get faster, they consume less power

速度卻越來越快、越來越省電

and they get cheaper.

而且越來越便宜。

And it's this convergence that gives us this incredible pace.

這樣的匯聚整合 帶給我們驚人的進步速度。

As an example:

舉個例子：

if I took the room-sized computer that sent three men to the moon and back

如果我把體積有一個房間大， 用來送三位太空人來回月球的電腦

and somehow compressed it --

進行壓縮，

compressed the world's greatest computer of its day,

把過去全世界 最偉大的電腦進行壓縮，

so it was the same size as your smartphone --

壓縮到跟你的手機一樣大小 ──

your actual smartphone,

而你手上那支手機，

that thing you spent 300 bucks on and just toss out every two years,

那支花了你 300 塊美金， 而且每兩年就會淘汰的手機，

would blow this thing away.

會完勝以前的太空電腦，

You would not be impressed.

你會對壓縮的太空電腦不屑一顧。

It couldn't do anything that your smartphone does.

因為它無法提供智慧型手機 應有的功能與服務，

It would be slow,

速度又慢，

you couldn't put any of your stuff on it,

你無法安裝任何東西上去，

你可能可以看到前兩分鐘的

you could possibly get through the first two minutes

of a "Walking Dead" episode if you're lucky --

《陰屍路》影集， 如果你夠幸運的話 ──

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

The point is the progress -- it's not gradual.

關鍵是電腦進步的速度 ── 它不是漸進式的、

The progress is relentless.

它是持續不斷的

It's exponential.

呈指數型上升。

It compounds on itself year after year,

它每年快速不斷地汰換更新，

to the point where if you compare a technology

如果你拿這一代的科技

from one generation to the next,

跟上一代的比，

they're almost unrecognizable.

你根本就認不出來。

And we owe it to ourselves to keep this progress going.

我們有責任要維持這樣的 進步速度。

We want to say the same thing 10, 20, 30 years from now:

往後的 10 年、20 年、30 年， 我們都希望仍可以繼續說：

look what we've done over the last 30 years.

看看我們過去 30 年的成果。

Yet we know this progress may not last forever.

但我們知道這樣的進步速度 可能不會一直持續下去。

In fact, the party's kind of winding down.

實際上，派對感覺快要結束了。

像是在跟我們說， 「最後叫酒的機會了喔！」，對吧？

It's like "last call for alcohol," right?

If you look under the covers,

如果我們仔細觀察，

像是速度和性能，

by many metrics like speed and performance,

the progress has already slowed to a halt.

進步的程度已經減緩到停滯不前了。

So if we want to keep this party going,

所以，如果我們要讓派對 繼續狂歡下去，

we have to do what we've always been able to do,

我們就必須做 我們一向擅長做的事情，

and that is to innovate.

那就是創新。

So our group's role and our group's mission

我們團隊所扮演的角色 及展望的願景，

is to innovate by employing carbon nanotubes,

就是運用奈米碳管做創新研發，

because we think that they can provide a path to continue this pace.

因為我們認為它可以讓我們 進步的速度持續下去。

They are just like they sound.

就如同其名，

They're tiny, hollow tubes of carbon atoms,

它們是很小、碳原子做的管狀物，

and their nanoscale size, that small size,

奈米大小的尺寸，

gives rise to these just outstanding electronic properties.

展現出卓越的電子傳導性能。

And the science tells us if we could employ them in computing,

科學告訴我們， 如果我們可以把它應用在電腦上，

它性能表現的優異度會是 現在的 10 倍以上。

we could see up to a ten times improvement in performance.

It's like skipping through several technology generations in just one step.

像是跳過好幾個世代的科技， 直接一步到位。

So there we have it.

所以，我們找到創新的解決方法。

我們有這個重大、難以克服的問題，

We have this really important problem

而我們有了基本的理想解決方法。

and we have what is basically the ideal solution.

The science is screaming at us,

科學正對著我們大喊，

"This is what you should be doing to solve your problem."

「要解決你的問題， 去研究奈米科技就對了。」

So, all right, let's get started,

所以，好吧，我們開始進行吧，

開始做吧。

let's do this.

But you just run right back into that double-edged sword.

但這又回到雙面刃的問題。

這個「理想的解決方法」 內含一種難搞的材料。

This "ideal solution" contains a material that's impossible to work with.

I'd have to arrange billions of them just to make one single computer chip.

我要把數以億計的這些小東西搞定， 才能做出一個電腦晶片。

這是一個同樣難解、 永遠存在的問題。

It's that same conundrum, it's like this undying problem.

At this point, we said, "Let's just stop.

就在這時候， 我們說：「我們先暫停一下。

Let's not go down that same road.

我們不要走回頭路，

Let's just figure out what's missing.

讓我們仔細想想到底遺漏了什麼、

What are we not dealing with?

我們沒有處理到哪些事？

What are we not doing that needs to be done?"

我們還有哪些該做卻沒做的事情？」

It's like in "The Godfather," right?

這有點像《教父》影集，對吧？

When Fredo betrays his brother Michael,

當弗雷多背叛他的弟弟麥可，

we all know what needs to be done.

我們都知道接下來要怎麼處理了，

Fredo's got to go.

弗雷多必須得死。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But Michael -- he puts it off.

但麥可，他延遲了殺人的計畫。

Fine, I get it.

好，我懂了，

Their mother's still alive, it would make her upset.

因他們的母親還健在， 兄弟相殘這件事會讓她很難受。

We just said,

但我們只想問，

"What's the Fredo in our problem?"

「我們問題中的弗雷多是什麼？

我們沒處理哪些事？

What are we not dealing with?

What are we not doing,

我們如果要成功，

到底還有哪些要做卻沒做的？」

but needs to be done to make this a success?"

And the answer is that the statue has to build itself.

結果答案就是： 那座雕像，它要自己建造起來。

We have to find a way, somehow,

我們無論如何都必須找出方法，

to compel, to convince billions of these particles

匯集、說服那些數十億顆的小粒子

to assemble themselves into the technology.

讓它們自己組裝起來， 成為一項科技。

We can't do it for them. They have to do it for themselves.

我們不能幫它們做， 它們必須自己做。

And it's the hard way, and this is not trivial,

這條路很困難、而且不容易，

but in this case, it's the only way.

但就目前看來，這是唯一的方法。

Now, as it turns out, this is not that alien of a problem.

結果後來我們發現， 這也不是什麼外星人科技的問題。

We just don't build anything this way.

我們只是不會用這樣的方式 建造東西。

People don't build anything this way.

人們不會用這樣的方式建造東西。

But if you look around -- and there's examples everywhere --

但如果你環顧一下四周 ── 這樣的範例到處都是 ──

Mother Nature builds everything this way.

大自然母親就是用這樣的方式 創造出每一樣東西。

Everything is built from the bottom up.

每一樣東西都是從基本元素構成。

You can go to the beach,

你去海邊，

you'll find these simple organisms that use proteins --

就可以看到這些簡單的生物體，

它們就是用蛋白質 ── 這樣的基本分子 ──

basically molecules --

以沙子做成的樣板，

to template what is essentially sand,

利用在海裡垂手可得的材料

just plucking it from the sea

and building these extraordinary architectures with extreme diversity.

打造出極緻多樣化的非凡結構體。

And nature's not crude like us, just hacking away.

而大自然不像我們這樣粗枝大葉， 她會精雕細琢。

She's elegant and smart,

她是如此的優雅且充滿智慧，

building with what's available, molecule by molecule,

從周遭取材， 一個分子一個分子地建造，

用我們未曾有過的方法

making structures with a complexity

and a diversity that we can't even approach.

製造出複雜又多樣化的結構。

And she's already at the nano.

她原本就是奈米的領域。

而且存在了好幾百萬年。

She's been there for hundreds of millions of years.

We're the ones that are late to the party.

在奈米派對上， 我們人類才是晚到者。

所以，我們決定使用 與大自然相同的工具，

So we decided that we're going to use the same tool that nature uses,

and that's chemistry.

那就是，化學。

化學就是我們所遺漏的工具。

Chemistry is the missing tool.

And chemistry works in this case

而化學在這情況下，起作用了，

because these nanoscale objects are about the same size as molecules,

因為這些奈米物體的 大小與分子相當，

so we can use them to steer these objects around,

所以我們可以利用化學來控制它們，

化學就像是個工具一樣。

much like a tool.

That's exactly what we've done in our lab.

這就是我們在實驗室做的事情。

We've developed chemistry that goes into the pile of dust,

我們研發出一種化學方式， 直接應用到那一堆沙裡，

那一堆奈米顆粒裡，

into the pile of nanoparticles,

and pulls out exactly the ones we need.

然後取出我們想要的。

Then we can use chemistry to arrange literally billions of these particles

之後利用化學方法，

調整出我們需要的迴路款式。

into the pattern we need to build circuits.

And because we can do that,

因為我們辦得到，

we can build circuits that are many times faster

所以我們建造的迴路，

比之前任何會使用 奈米材料的人快上好幾倍。

than what anyone's been able to make using nanomaterials before.

Chemistry's the missing tool,

化學就是遺漏的工具，

and every day our tool gets sharper and gets more precise.

我們的工具每天不斷地提升， 而且越來越精確。

And eventually --

最後，

and we hope this is within a handful of years --

我們期待這一刻好幾年了，

we can deliver on one of those original promises.

我們終於可以完成那些原本的承諾。

Now, computing is just one example.

電腦只是其中一個範例。

It's the one that I'm interested in, that my group is really invested in,

那是我有興趣的， 我的團隊真的投入了很多，

but there are others in renewable energy, in medicine,

但還有其它領域， 像是再生能源、藥物、

in structural materials,

建築材料方面，

科學即將告訴你 我們要前進到奈米世界了。

where the science is going to tell you to move towards the nano.

在那裏可以創造出最大的效益。

That's where the biggest benefit is.

But if we're going to do that,

但如果我們要開始做了，

the scientists of today and tomorrow are going to need new tools --

現在、未來的科學家 都需要新的工具 ──

tools just like the ones I described.

就如同我所說的工具。

And they will need chemistry. That's the point.

他們會用到化學，這才是重點。

The beauty of science is that once you develop these new tools,

而科學美妙的地方就在於， 一旦你研發了這些新工具，

they're out there.

它們就在那裡等候差遣，

They're out there forever,

它們永遠都在。

and anyone anywhere can pick them up and use them,

任何人都可以隨時隨地拿起來用，

and help to deliver on the promise of nanotechnology.

協助實現奈米科技對我們的承諾。

Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

非常感謝各位的聆聽， 我很感激。

（掌聲）

(Applause)