poly: Nanomedicine Mailing List (fwd)

Robert Freitas' much-anticipated "Nanomedicine" has just been published!

I received my copy a week or so ago --- it's a huge book, covering an
enormous range of material. What little I've read has been very
interesting, and rather reminiscent of Drexler's "Nanosystems" not so
much in terms of content (although there's obviously some overlap), but
in terms of scope, chutzpah, and the combination of detail and breadth
of vision. Below is an email message from John Novak announcing the
creation of an online study group devoted to the task of working through
this volume. This seems to me an exciting opportunity to get a great
deal out of Freitas' book, and I'm certainly planning to participate!

Michael Nielsen
Room 3, East Bridge, Mail Code 12-33, Caltech, Pasadena CA 91125
Ph: 626 395 8431 Fax: 626 793 9506
http://theory.caltech.edu/~mnielsen/ mnielsen@theory.caltech.edu

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 00:10:18 -0500 (EST)
From: "John S. Novak, III" <jsn@ts002d06.per-md.concentric.net>
Reply-To: transhuman@logrus.org
To: transhuman@logrus.org
Subject: >H Nanomedicine Mailing List

Transhuman Mailing List

John S. Novak, III said:
 
> I noted with interest that she's in the acknowledgements page of
> _Nanomedicine._ Along with some list members. (Max, Forrest, and
> Eugene are the ones that leapt out and caught my eye.)
 
And, hey, wouldn't you know it, this makes for an excellent segue to
something I've been meaning to do for a week and a half, now.

I got Freitas' _Nanomedicine, vol I_ in the mail last week.
It is a book of significant weight. It is the first of three volumes,
in the vein of Drexler's _Nanosystems_. Which is to say, it is
technical, nitense, and crossdisciplinary.

It is also very interesting.

Some months ago, I proposed the idea of "study group" mailing
lists devoted to individual difficult-to-read books of importance
to transhuman studies. There was some approval of the idea.

I think this book meets the qualifications. Therefore, I have created
a group through Onelist.com. The page is at:

http://onelist.com/community/Nanomedicine

I have included the official charter, below.
Here's what's not in the charter:
(The "welcome message" thing has a 2000 character limit.)

I've decided to keep the mailing list "private" in the sense that it
should not show up in the general directory of listings. It is
"public" in that my approval is not required for subscription. It is
my hope that only people who will make a serious effort to contribute
will subscribe. To my mind, that will mean volunteering for one
section, and actually _Purchasing The Book._

To that end, I encourage people on this list to subscribe if they
will, and to contact individuals who may be interested and willing to
participate as well.

I will also post this message to the transhumantech list, and
probably sci.nanotech. Someone else can post it to the Extropians
list for me.

If I've screwed up in the creation of the list, somehow, please
mention it HERE, so everyone sees it and I don't get eight thousand
copies pointing out the same mistake.

Here is the charter:

---
The purpose of this mailing list is a systematic reading and
discussion of the book _Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities_
by Robert Freitas.
In the initial phase, list members may obtain copies of this work
(shipping now through Amazon.com) and conduct general, individual
surveys of the work.  
In the second phase, the list coordinator will, with discussion and
input from the list members, divide the book into sections of
appropriate length.  List members will each volunteer to read and
attempt to summarize one or more subsections of the book, the goal
being roughly equal treatment of the whole volume.  The list
coordinator will create a timetable, make it public, and keep it
current.
The third and final phase will be the actual coordinated reading of
the text, the posts of the volunteered summaries, and discussion.  The
anticipated pace is one section every two weeks.  The anticipated
beginning of this phase is early to mid-February.
Volunteers are not expected to be experts in nanotechnology,
medicine, or in the topic of the section which they are summarizing.
The purpose of this mailing list is to help technically educated
non-specialists of varying disciplines to absorb the text as fully as
possible through an environment of discussion.  The purpose of the
summaries is to keep the list active and on track, and provide seeds
for ongoing discussion.
For that reason, it is anticipated that these summaries may take the
form of literal point-by-point summaries, lists of questions or
requests for clarification on points which the volunteers did not
understand, speculations on refinements or extensions of the ideas
presented, and the like.
Related links:
The Nanomedicine Homepage:
http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/index.html
The Foresight Institute Homepage:
http://www.foresight.org/
To Order from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D157059645X/foresightinstituA/103-355407
7-2784621
--
John S. Novak, III		jsn@concentric.net
The Humblest Man on the Net
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