Scientists study physical things, then describe them; engineers describe physical things, then build them.
K. Eric DrexlerProtein engineering is a technology of molecular machines - of molecular machines that are part of replicators - and so it comes from an area that already raises some of the issues that nanotechnology will raise.
K. Eric DrexlerLikewise nanotechnology will, once it gets under way, depend on the tools we have then and our ability to use them, and not on the steps that got us there.
K. Eric DrexlerOn the molecular scale, you find it's reasonable to have a machine that does a million steps per second, a mechanical system that works at computer speeds.
K. Eric Drexler