Testimonials

Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines

Read What Others Have Said about Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines:

Excerpted reviews, from back cover of the book:

“The entire manuscript is very impressive. It fills a vital need in the ongoing strengthening of the conceptual engineering of nanotechnology.” -- Ray Kurzweil, Ph.D., Kurzweil Technologies

“...a great resource and contribution to the field. Gathering all of this diverse information together in one place is extremely useful. It is a very good engineering book, but the topic is interesting and relevant across many more disciplines than just engineering, and achieving the goals set forth here will have impact far beyond engineering.” -- Chris G. Langton, Ph.D., Complex Systems Group, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Professor, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico (ret.)

“In one word: Wonderful! Erudite, comprehensive, and entertaining, this book is the definitive treatise on the subject. A bona fide MUST MUST MUST for anyone interested in the fascinating field of kinematic self-replication.” -- Moshe Sipper, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and author of Machine Nature: The Coming Age of Bio-Inspired Computing

“Really magnificent as a resource. Truly superb.” -- James K. Gimzewski, Ph.D., Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

“Freitas and Merkle’s Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines is a substantial, in fact, game-changing contribution to the nanotechnology literature. It collects many excellent examples and approaches on the topic of self-replicating systems, and provides the essential scientific basis for comprehending the theoretical feasibility and control of molecular assemblers. This book lays the foundation for the molecular manufacturing of the future.” -- Neil Jacobstein, Chairman, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, and CEO, Teknowledge Corporation

“...a superb work, ...a major contribution to the nascent field of self-replicating machines.” -- Daniel Mange, Ph.D., Professor, Logic Systems Laboratory, School of Computer and Communication Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

“Very informative. This work captures the technology and history behind an important phase of both humanity’s evolution and that of our machines.” -- Scot Stride, Spacecraft Telecommunications Equipment Section, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

“Very impressive! An excellent, excellent summary of everything that has ever been done in kinematic self-replication.” -- Tihamer Toth-Fejel, Research Engineer, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems

“A forthcoming book reviews the history of these and other efforts to understand self-replicating systems over the past fifty years. [KSRM] represents the most comprehensive review to date on the subject of self-replicating systems, and is an excellent reference book.” -- Gregory S. Chirikjian, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University

“THE standard reference in the field.” -- Mark A. Bedau, Ph.D., Editor, Artificial Life, and Professor, Reed College

“A wonderful synopsis of the history of self-replicating machines!” -- Forrest Bishop, Chairman, Institute for Atomic Scale Engineering, and President of Interworld Productions LLC

“I find Section 5.11 extremely interesting, as I had not seen your Foresight Guidelines before. The idea which I found most interesting was the emphasis on encryption as a safeguard against hijacking.” -- Freeman J. Dyson, Ph.D., Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.

“...a MAJOR contribution to an important area.” -- George Friedman, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California

“...fills an important role in collecting together a wide range of discussions and proposals for machines that can build copies of themselves.” -- Tad Hogg, Ph.D., Hewlett-Packard Corp.

“A remarkable and valuable achievement. For anyone who wants to know about machine self-replication, this book will provide an excellent place to learn the history and present state of the field.” -- Richard A. Laing, Ph.D., Logic of Computers Group, Department of Computer and Communication Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (ret.)

Full text of comments from 59 pre-publication reviewers:

Emanuel F. Barros, CTO, NanoMatrix, Inc.; 21 November 2003:
“The work is excellent and very concise.”

Mark A. Bedau, Ph.D., Editor, Artificial Life, and Professor, Reed College; 24 August 2003:
“It’s a great compendium of useful and interesting information about self-replicating machines. I think this topic will become very pressing and in the public eye in the next 5 years, so your book will be timely. At this point it would be THE standard reference in the field. When the full manuscript is completed and the book is published, I would certainly like to arrange for a full review of it in the Artificial Life journal.”

David M. Berube, Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric and Communication Studies, University of South Carolina; 26 September 2003:
“Fascinating read. I enjoyed the delineations between reproduction and replication. I also agree that there’s this peculiar psychology that makes people unable to understand that replication does not mean ‘out of nothing.’ That’s magic and not science. When coupled with ‘necessary degeneracy’ we have a conflation of misunderstandings that plague serious discussion of replicating machines. How to debunk this peculiar misapprehension is a challenge. I really enjoyed the discussion of ‘forward-’ and ‘backward-chaining.’ I think it is a wonderfully visual way to describe technological innovation.”

Forrest Bishop, Chairman, Institute for Atomic Scale Engineering, and President of Interworld Productions LLC; 14 September 2003:
“A wonderful synopsis of the history of self-replicating machines!”

Nick Bostrom, Ph.D., Oxford University, U.K.; 5 August 2003:
“I found it very interesting! Looks like this will be a great book.”

David Brin, science fiction novelist; 28 September 2003:
“Your book is fascinating.”

Carlos A. Castro, Ph.D., technical consultant, Zyvex Corp.; 23 September 2003:
“I’m having fun reading your book – I like it. In addition to serious reading, the book also makes good in-flight reading....Congratulations, I think you have a great book. I like the style of the prose and general content. Sufficient technical detail with plenty of illustrations to be interesting, but not so much detail that it is overwhelming to the non-specialist. I think you’ve reached the appropriate balance. The extensive use of graphics is great.”

Gregory S. Chirikjian, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University; 26 April 2004:
“A forthcoming book reviews the history of these and other efforts to understand self-replicating systems over the past fifty years. [KSRM] represents the most comprehensive review to date on the subject of self-replicating systems, and is an excellent reference book.”

Mike Collins, Masters Thesis candidate, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida; 9 October 2003:
“Wow! You certainly have written quite a book here. This will keep me busy for some time.”

Paul Davies, Ph.D., University of Adelaide, Australia (ret.); 16 September 2003:
“Your book certainly looks interesting.”

Radu Dogaru, Ph.D., Professor of Intelligent Systems, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania; 24 October 2003:
“A very nice and compact explanation of the concepts such as the Von Neumann self-reproducing machine. Good and complete reference set, the overall impression is very positive.”

K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D., Chairman, Foresight Institute, and Research Fellow, Molecular Engineering Research Institute; 20 October 2003:
“Your description of my replicator work...looks good – what’s more, it helped to remind me of what I’ve written on the subject.”

Freeman J. Dyson, Ph.D., Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.; 5 August 2003:
“I find Section 5.11 extremely interesting, as I had not seen your Foresight Guidelines before. The idea which I found most interesting was the emphasis on encryption as a safeguard against hijacking.”

Suren Erkman, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Communication and Analysis of Science and Technology (ICAST), Geneva, Switzerland; 17 October 2003:
“I find the whole document to be just excellent. I think this is really going to be a landmark reference for the future development of the field. The text is very good. Chapters 1 and 2 are very useful, as they give the broad conceptual and historical framework of the book.”

Ronald S. Fearing, Ph.D., Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley; 10 October 2003:
“The sections I looked at were quite interesting to read.”

George Friedman, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California; 1 August 2003:
“Your book is a MAJOR contribution to an important area. I definitely want to buy a copy for myself and, if I ever get sufficient funding at SSI or USC to do research in self-replication, it will become the major research reference. Even if I don’t get funding, I still plan to use it for my own research on bio-inspired systems concepts. I still consider the 1980 NASA workshop report (CP-2255) one of the finest treatments of self-rep ever written, [but] your new book should surpass it. [Self-replication is] one of technology’s most exciting frontiers! Despite the rich and exciting material in Chapters 1-5, Chapter 6 is the most ambitious since it strives to motivate and justify future research agendas and budgetary support. You have an excellent set of arguments refuting the naysayers. Your analogies with the technological stories of Goddard and Babbage are interesting reading.”

Robert A. Frosch, Ph.D., former NASA Administrator; 29 August 2003:
“I think self-replication holds great promise, especially for making the economics of exploration of the solar system and the universe possible. However, it will take a new view of what constitutes partnership between people and their technology. I hope your book will help to articulate and push that view. I look forward to the publication of the book.”

Timothy S. Gardner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; 22 August 2003:
“I thought it was quite comprehensive. As for gene circuits, you surveyed the basic work there quite well. All in all, it looks good.”

James K. Gimzewski, Ph.D., Professor, University of California, Los Angeles; 25 September 2003:
“Really magnificent as a resource. Truly superb. It doesn’t define a fixed path which is important. It is [a] dedicated work and scholarly.”

J. Storrs Hall, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Molecular Engineering Research Institute; 15 January 2004:
“I just had the privilege of reviewing the draft of a major new book by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle, which will likely become the classic reference in the subject. In his usual encyclopedic style, Robert organizes everything that is known about self-replicating systems. An excellent exposition!”

Tad Hogg, Ph.D., Hewlett-Packard Corp.; 9 September 2003:
“Very timely, especially with all the hype and fear about self-reproducing machines (e.g., Prey). Your distinction between self-reproduction and self-replication is an important one in light of concerns about “gray goo,” Bill Joy’s Wired article, etc. This distinction [is] mainly to point out the possibility of designing safer self-rep* machines that do not have the possibility of continuing to function in spite of variations. I liked your emphasizing the broadcast control method – as distinct from the way most people think of self-reproduction in biological contexts – as a strong technique for responding to safety concerns.”

“The book fills an important role in collecting together a wide range of discussions and proposals for machines that can build copies of themselves, given a suitable environment of parts. You’re writing for both types of readers – those interested in the general issues, and those more technically inclined to encourage them to work on designing such machines.”

Tim J. Hutton, Research Fellow and Ph.D. candidate, MINORI Project, Biomedical Informatics Unit, Eastman Dental Institute, UCL, London, U.K.; 13 August 2003:
“Your book looks really interesting and thorough. It’s a fine overview of the state of self-replicating systems, though of course it is slanted towards physically-implementable systems since that is the topic of the book. The start of the book with some ancient historical context is fabulous.”

Takashi Ikegami, Ph.D., University of Tokyo; 4 October 2003:
“This book contains far more contents than I know.”

Neil Jacobstein, Chairman, Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, and CEO, Teknowledge Corporation; 13 October 2003:
“Freitas and Merkle’s Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines is a substantial, in fact, game-changing contribution to the nanotechnology literature. It collects many excellent examples and approaches on the topic of self-replicating systems, and provides the essential scientific basis for comprehending the theoretical feasibility and control of molecular assemblers. This book lays the foundation for the molecular manufacturing of the future.”

Stepas Janusonis, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Institute of Lithuanian Scientific Society; 24 August 2003:
“Presented book manuscript offers a general overview of the voluminous theoretical and experimental literature pertaining to physical self-replicating systems in which actual physical objects, not mere patterns of information, undertake their own replication in physical space. Such a generic viewpoint, concerning common laws of evolution of very different objects in Nature and the Technological world created by mankind, seems very interesting. The investigation comprises self-replicating processes from molecular level to robots as well. This huge material is very important. Defining self-replicating control by general laws in different cases seems very important because they can be used not only for more detailed examination of the concrete situation, but also used for research of new possibilities in technological activity. The book is very important and must be issued.”

Gerald F. Joyce, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute; 27 August 2003:
“I’ve had a chance to look over the draft of Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, focusing on Chapter 4. Overall it is an impressive effort...workmanlike in its coverage of the relevant experiments.”

Loren W. Knapp, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics, University of South Carolina; 30 September 2003:
“Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines runs the gamut of expounding the compressed, detailed aspects of theoretical models of nanotechnology and science to the practical, common sense notions of how to proceed in a world of ever-changing technologies that will (and does) affect us all. There are some very lucid presentations of the math in Section 5.9. Your writing style is very readable, as indicated in several sections where you introduce material in a simple and straightforward manner and in Section 5.11, where the dimensions of the issues are societal.”

“With respect to Section 5.11 ‘Replicators and Public Safety,’ you do a good job of briefly putting the potential of the technology into a societal perspective. It is certainly our intention at USC to deal with many of the issues raised in the book and hopefully to expand on them in meaningful ways. Dyson’s voice of concern (as with all the interesting excerpts used in the Chapter) frames the issues nearest and dearest to the doomsayers of this technology and are food for serious thought on the adventures we set out on in discovering new relationships of matter, energy and assembly at the nanoscale. Evolvability of self-replicating systems should be more than discouraged. The Foresight Guidelines are reasonable and thorough in their presentation. I’m not sure anyone should fully believe that they will be met, but they are a good start. I agree that ‘people of good will’ can influence greatly the regulation of a new field, as you rightly point out with respect to genetic engineering. Readable and thought-provoking...”

Narayanan M. Komerath, Ph.D., Professor, School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology; 2 August 2003:
“Very interesting and timely.”

John R. Koza, Consulting Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering, Stanford University; 26 September 2003:
“Let me comment now on the impressive thoroughness of your work. I was amazed about how many things you’ve found and the many details you’ve covered. I’m looking forward to the finished book. It looks terrific.”

Markus Krummenacker, Molecubotics, Inc.; 14 October 2003:
“Interesting and important. As usual, your book very extensively covers the literature and contains a lot of interesting stuff.”

Ray Kurzweil, Ph.D., Kurzweil Technologies; 26 September 2003:
“The entire manuscript is very impressive. It fills a vital need in the ongoing strengthening of the conceptual engineering of nanotechnology. Looks fascinating.”

Richard A. Laing, Ph.D., Logic of Computers Group, Department of Computer and Communication Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (ret.); 15 September 2003:
“A remarkable and valuable achievement. For anyone who wants to know about machine self-replication, this book will provide an excellent place to learn the history and present state of the field. The vast amount of work already carried out on this subject and here commented on makes it evident that machine self-replication is not fantasy but a serious and substantial scientific and technological enterprise of potentially great practical significance.”

“References are provided to the original publications necessary for anyone who might wish to pursue a particular topic in more depth. This access to the original publications of work on machine self-replication is invaluable because it makes evident in detail what has already been done, and what therefore need not be repeated, as well as having the additional salutary effect of constraining those who ignorantly or dishonestly make claims of originality for results which may have appeared in the open literature decades earlier.”

“Your review of present practical real world approaches to self-replication, from clanking hardware to biological wetware is thorough and admirable. Of the many possible approaches you consider, the particular direction you ultimately suggest would be most fruitful and appropriate – your decision to concentrate on kinematic self-replicating machines whose behavior is implemented at the nanotechnological level – is certainly an excellent one and most likely to produce the desired practical success.”

“Operational kinematic self-replicating machines implemented at the nanotechnological level and with their quasi-biological powers, may raise the spectre for some, especially in an age of fears of biological terrorism, of the great dangers inherent in real-world self-replication processes. But your careful and extensive consideration of the ways in which the dangers inherent in the runaway behaviors of successful machine self-replication processes can be mitigated or eliminated entirely, should convince readers, especially those who may seriously be considering participating in or supporting the development of kinematic machine self-replication that such an enterprise can not only be successful and of enormous practical significance but safe as well.”

Chris G. Langton, Ph.D., Complex Systems Group, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Professor, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico (ret.); 7 October 2003:
“This will be a great resource and contribution to the field. Gathering all of this diverse information together in one place is extremely useful. It is a very good engineering book, but the topic is interesting and relevant across many more disciplines than just engineering, and achieving the goals set forth here will have impact far beyond engineering.”

James B. Lewis, Ph.D., Molecubotics, Inc.; 28 September 2003:
“You’ve done your usual comprehensive job. Looks like another fantastic book. I don’t know how you can maintain such an amazing effort. You manage to write a huge book in the time it would take me to just put together the rough outline for my research, even if I were able to devote my full time to the task.”

Jason Lohn, Ph.D., Director, Evolvable Systems Group, Computational Sciences Division, NASA/Ames Research Center; 6 August 2003:
“It looks quite impressive.”

Pier Luigi Luisi, Ph.D., Department of Materials Science, ETH Zurich; 30 September 2003:
“The book is certainly very timely. In a time where theories of complexity have become such an important part of biology and chemistry, a book about self-organization and self-replication – with a long, perhaps complete, list of all self-replicating systems described until now in the literature – will be welcomed by many scientists within the broad field of system science.”

Pavel O. Luksha, Ph.D., The Higher School of Economics, Moscow; 9 October 2003:
“The book provides a relatively good review on theory of self-reproduction. I found the book a very comprehensive study on possible designs of kinematic self-replicators. One thing the book has successfully shown is that these designs, at least those theoretical, are vast. The book is without a doubt a compendium of projects for artificial self-replicators, both macro-scale and micro-scale, showing some 15 designs for each. It was also interesting to see the discussion of the main problems of self-replicator design (Section 5). I agree on the call for focused R&D with a ‘backchain design.’ Indeed, in every successful engineering project, efforts have been focused, starting with a concept and then elaborating on sub-parts. To agree on ‘what needs to be done’ or to position a new development in a design space is important for building a working artificial self-reproducer.”

Evan Malone, Ph.D. candidate, Cornell University; 4 September 2003:
“I’ve enjoyed reading the material.”

Daniel Mange, Ph.D., Professor, Logic Systems Laboratory, School of Computer and Communication Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland; 24 September 2003:
“You really did a superb work, and your book will be a major contribution to the nascent field of self-replicating machines. I’m looking forward to ordering a copy of this book and to displaying it in our library. Thanks also for mentioning our contributions. We are very proud to be quoted in your book.”

Martin C. Martin, Ph.D., Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (postdoc); 27 August 2003:
“Everything seems accurate. Good luck with your book, it looks like it will be a great resource!”

Constantinos Mavroidis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Northeastern University; 6 October 2003:
“This is a fantastic piece of work. I really enjoy your work and books on nanotechnology.”

Barry McMullin, Ph.D., Research Institute in Networks and Communications Engineering (RINCE), Dublin City University, Ireland; 14 October 2003:
“Overall I found it interesting and useful. Its near-term focus [is] on engineering applications which are relatively ‘conventional’, apart from component size. I wish you well both with the book and with the substantive research that it anticipates.”

Matt Moses, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering (University of New Mexico), GD Robotic Systems, Inc.; 27 August 2003:
“Table of Contents [is] very comprehensive. It’s great to have all that information collected in one volume. I’m pleased you referenced as much of my work as you did – exactly the right material from the thesis to clearly explain the core purpose of the work. I look forward to purchasing a copy of the book when it becomes available.”

Arcady R. Mushegian, Ph.D., Director of Bioinformatics Center, Stowers Institute for Medical Research; 10 September 2003:
“It is fascinating reading, thank you for giving me this opportunity. ...the intended use is as introductory textbook for engineering students....”

Chrystopher L. Nehaniv, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematical and Evolutionary Computer Sciences, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, U.K.; 7 October 2003:
“Your book looks like a wonderful and much needed treatment of replicating machines.”

Thomas S. Ray, Ph.D., Professor of Department of Zoology and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, University of Oklahoma; 3 October 2003:
“This is a great book, a real contribution to the field. It is a very thorough review of the complete history and current state of self-replicating machines. The book contains an amazing 3000 references. Needless to say, it presented a lot of work on self-replication that I was unfamiliar with. I think this book will become an important reference for people interested in self-replication, especially self-replication of hardware as opposed to software. It is a real contribution to pull together, organize and present this large body of information on the topic.”

James A. Reggia, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Computer Science and Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, University of Maryland; 10 August 2003:
“The references to our work looked fine; thanks a lot for including us. The rest of the book looks terrific. No doubt it will be the definitive work in the field. Please let me know when it comes out – I will certainly be one of the first in line to buy a copy and would like to make sure our libraries here do the same. Congratulations on what looks to a very exciting text!”

Kazuhiro Saitou, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Design Laboratories, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan; 17 August 2003:
“It is a very interesting book with extensive coverage. I’d like to buy one when available.”

Arthur C. Sanderson, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering and Vice President for Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; 1 October 2003:
“I’ve enjoyed reading parts of the book manuscript. It does a good job of gathering relevant work and putting it into context. I look forward to the final publication.”

Hiroki Sayama, D.Sc., Department of Human Communication, University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan; 30 September 2003:
“I was really amazed by the breadth and depth of its coverage. I really appreciate your and Dr. Merkle’s great efforts to compile such a nice volume. The wide coverage was quite stunning. I hope this book will be a monumental piece that will promote further advancement and community growth on this interesting topic.”

Moshe Sipper, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and author of Machine Nature: The Coming Age of Bio-Inspired Computing; 7 August 2003:
“In one word: Wonderful! Erudite, comprehensive, and entertaining, this book is the definitive treatise on the subject. A bona fide MUST MUST MUST for anyone interested in the fascinating field of kinematic self-replication.”

Steven S. Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Surgery, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope; 1 October 2003:
“The book will be quite nice. The strongest vote I can give is I plan to buy this one once it is out.”

Scot Stride, Spacecraft Telecommunications Equipment Section, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; 17 September 2003:
“Very informative. Congratulations on a difficult undertaking. This work captures the technology and history behind an important phase of both humanity’s evolution and that of our machines.”

Hong-Bo Sun, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Physics, Osaka University; 13 October 2003:
“The chapter gives a quite comprehensive review of three-dimensional lithographic technology. Most events related to the field’s progress are included.”

Gianluca Tempesti, Ph.D., Logic Systems Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland; 10 October 2003:
“I wish to congratulate you for your superb endeavor! It looks really good and I’m looking forward to reading it in its final version.”

Tihamer Toth-Fejel, Research Engineer, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems; 25 August 2003:
“Very impressive! An excellent, excellent summary of everything that has ever been done in kinematic self-replication.”

Steve Tung, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas; 28 September 2003:
“I just finished reading your book and enjoyed it.”

Ron Weiss, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering Department and Molecular Biology Department, Princeton University; 28 September 2003:
“Looks good. You have certainly assembled an impressive list of interesting research projects!”

Eiichi Yoshida, D.Eng., Distributed System Design Research Group, Intelligent Systems Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan; 28 September 2003:
“I appreciate all your efforts to make such a complete survey. I can learn a lot from your work, congratulations.”

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Last updated on 1 August 2005