The book is divided into four loosely related major sections. Part 1, The Molecular Age, lays out a mostly scientific vision of the future. The first chapter contains a brief introduction into computing power and “the Singularity”, which I learned is the moment at which computers become transhuman—smarter than we are. Chapter 2 will be more familiar to chemists with its introduction to molecular machines—courtesy of Richard Feynman, Eric Drexler, and others. Chapters 3 through 7 complete Mulhall’s vision of the future of everything, from nanoecology to robo sapiens to the space elevator.

Mulhall believes that natural disasters of unprecedented scale will both dictate as well as curtail the future of our planet. In Part 2 he expounds at length about “nature’s time bombs”. Several chapters are devoted to the potential destruction that could result from megatsunamis, massive earthquakes, asteroid impacts, and super hurricanes. Then the book veers off into weirdness. Chapter 12, Lost Messages From Ancient Times, begins with Atlantis and ends with Erich Von Daniken.

Part 3, Blueprints for a Molecular Defense, begins abruptly after lost civilizations. After rambling for many pages about United Nations recommendations for managing environmental variety, Mulhall latches onto molecular assemblers near the end of Chapter 14. Following the disasters described in Part 2, he suggests that molecular assemblers will manage cleanup and recovery efforts. For example, molecular water synthesizers will be available to treat drinking water: “Water synthesis might occur by drawing vapor from the atmosphere, but as things progressed, we’d have the means to combine two hydrogen atoms from a cheap source with one oxygen atom—to build our own water molecules.” Food might be the next necessity, and Mulhall posits molecular biosynthesis and robotic replenishment. With a nod to green chemistry, he also speculates about molecular disassembly and “intelligent product systems” that make every product compatible with environmental cycles. For anything you can imagine, Mulhall has a scenario and a molecular-level solution.

Getting from Here to There is the title of Part 4. How will molecular technologies be used in the future? In his alphabetical list in Chapter 18, chemicals fall between agriculture and climate adaptation researchers. His question for the chemical industry is “How do [they] show the first positive benefits of nanotechnology for consumers, instead of developing shortsighted products that backfire and heighten consumer paranoia?” Mulhall tries to wrap all this up with four final chapters, each devoted to a principle to guide us into the future. “Find ways to remember our past in the future”, “learn from the dark side”, and on he goes.

I was unable to find out exactly who Douglas Mulhall is. His Internet sites dub him a “nanotechnology journalist”, yet I was unable to locate any academic or scientific credentials. His writing is competent enough, although he is repetitive with some of his favorite ideas and he is prone to bad puns.

It took me about a year and two tries to read this book. I cannot wholeheartedly recommend Our Molecular Future, yet the premise of the book is oddly fascinating. Who should read it? Scientists who enjoy science fiction probably have already read it. Chemists who followed the exchanges between Eric Drexler and Richard Smalley in Chemical and Engineering News (1) will find this book remarkably one-sided. A savvy instructor with some creative students in a small honors-level course in science (or science fiction) could have a lot of fun with this book.

Literature Cited

1. Chem. Eng. News. 2003, 81 (48), 37–42.