In high-technology incubators around the world, biotechnology and nanotechnology together are spawning. With the literary imagination for which engineers are famous, the offspring of this union has already been named nanobiotechnology. The overt goal of nanobiotechnology is to completely break down the borders between living and nonliving materials. This goal has the most profound implications for every aspect of human endeavor, but in warfare the consequences of integrating our most powerful technologies are almost beyond comprehension. The fusion of nanotechnology and biotechnology will erase any distinction between chemical, biological, and conventional weapons, altering the face of war (and life) forever.

The key thing to remember is that every military application also has a non-military one: tomorrow's sword will be next week's plowshare (and vice versa). In the nano age, if you aren't very afraid and very excited at the same time, you aren't paying attention.

So just what kinds of military devices are in store for us? We can get an idea simply by examining what the ISN is currently advertising, translating it into English, then extrapolating out another ten years or so.

Energy-absorbing materials

Nanosoldierspeak: "ISN researchers are developing energy-absorbing nanomaterials that will be part of the future soldier's battle suit. These new materials will provide the soldier with protection against ballistics and directed energy, thereby enhancing the soldier's survivability."

Translation: Humans have been seeking "protection against ballistics and directed energy" since the first time someone got hit over the head with a bone, which means we have been seeking this technology since before we were Homo sapiens. Up until now, we have had to drag around a shield or wear heavy armor. But nanotechnology will deliver protection in a way that enhances the performance of our naturally evolved body rather than weighing us down. In fact, when combined with properties like "mechanical actuation and dynamic stiffness," discussed below, people wearing body armor will be moving far faster than those of us relegated to Levis or even Gucci.

Mechanically active materials and devices

Nanosoldierspeak: "ISN researchers are developing nanomaterials that are capable of mechanical actuation and dynamic stiffness. As part of the soldier's battle suit, these adaptive multifunctional materials will improve soldier performance and may provide medical assistance in the field."

Translation: Artificial muscles! Clothing or ultra-lightweight body armor that provides superhuman strength, integrated within the impregnable (sorry, energy-absorbing) body armor under development above. Let's tell it like it is: The ISN wants to build (sorry, nanofabricate), an ultra-light, ultra-strong and ultra-powerful exoskeleton. But the real super-soldier is far more than a human wearing an exoskeleton that imparts inhuman speed, strength and endurance. This nano-enabled exoskeleton will be made of molecular "smart materials" that also create the type of super-sensor powers described below.

Sensors and chemical/biological protection

Nanosoldierspeak: "ISN researchers are developing protective measures that will enable the future soldier to detect and respond to chemical and biological threats. Research is taking place on the development of highly sensitive sensors as well as protective fiber and fabric coatings that can be integrated in the battle suit. These external systems will enhance the soldier's awareness of environmental toxins, thereby providing the soldier with initial protection against chemical and biological agents."

Translation: Evolution has already provided biological life with a "sensorium" capable of detecting individual molecules. That is, the biomolecules inside our bodies can "see" the individual molecules in our environment. Our eyes, for example, can "see" a single photon of light. When we are not distracted, or overwhelmed by the ambient noise of life, all our senses can operate with this type of resolution. But how is such a thing possible? Each atom transmits a unique electromagnetic signature into nearby space. A molecule is a unique group of atoms, so that the space around a molecule has an even more complex signature field. Molecules see and recognize each other via the interaction of these force fields. Sometimes molecular signals merge into a powerful force-field beam that breaks the surface of our macroscopic world. (When uranium undergoes radioactive decay, it emits a beam that's hard for us to miss.) But individual molecules can sense each other every time, all the time -- so that single molecule detection provides near-perfect sensitivity to almost anything that can happen in the physical world.

The ISN will create artificial molecular nanosensors based on the schematics originally built by evolution. Working backward from a successful design is called reverse engineering. So the nanofabricated super-soldier exoskeleton will have an array of reverse-engineered artificial molecular sensors built directly into it. These artificial sensors will be wired into the biological "sensorium" of the soldier. As a result, the nano-enabled combatant will be able to see or sense almost everything in his or her environment. Artificial molecule-scale sensors may start off as external systems to "enhance the soldier's awareness of environmental toxins" or other signals, but this technology can be used to create a whole new set of superhuman senses for anyone, not just soldiers. Someone, somewhere, will soon be able to "sense" almost anything, anywhere in the physical world. Without entering your home, I can know what you are eating, drinking, smoking, wearing, or not wearing. Who gets to have these senses? Will they be installed as passive or active?

Biomaterials and nanodevices for soldier medical technology

Nanosoldierspeak: "ISN researchers are looking at ways to use nanotechnology to improve the way we detect and treat life-threatening injuries such as hemorrhage, fracture, or infection. With new approaches to soldier triage and with automatic first aid for a wounded or disabled soldier, the ISN's goal is to at least begin, if not complete, recovery while the patient is still on the battlefield by developing ways to monitor patient physiology as well as novel materials for wound healing."

Translation: Your camouflage suit is going to sense your metabolic condition and know when you are hurt or wounded. It is going to melt into your wound to stop the bleeding, set your bones, and give you a shot of morphine. To do this, your nanofabricated suit had better have the ability to speak the same language as your living tissue. So using nanotechnology to provide "automatic first aid" ultimately means using molecular sensor systems to detect and respond to the presence of blood cells, serum or antibodies. Basically, the idea is to hack into the CPU of life and interface our biological systems to artificial ones. Make no mistake, we are talking about the ability to hardwire the delivery of medical procedures, drugs or chemicals directly into things worn in or on the body in response to remote signals or sensations. This will undoubtedly save lives on the battlefield, but it also opens up mind-boggling possibilities for behavior modification and control. Instead of an injection when you are wounded, how about an injection when you act in an antisocial manner? Will we have the wisdom to control the machines we have created, especially when they have been built to operate autonomously? In the years ahead, that question will no longer be merely philosophical.

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So, let's take stock. Based simply on the projects posted for public consumption, the ISN is busy creating a soldier of the future who will be protected by an impregnable exoskeleton. This 21st century armor will also impart superhuman strength, reflexes and endurance. It will sense its environment with molecular precision and administer chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other potions directly to the human inside based on pre-programmed stimuli or other command and control signals (global satellite phone link to headquarters ... a battle computer in geosynchronous orbit ... HAL?). It kind of makes one long for the old "mineshaft gap" of the Cold War.

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