MIT’s Dr. Erik Demaine explains his enthusiasm about programmable matter like this: “To me the exciting thing about programmable matter is the idea of making gadgets that could serve many functions. I can imagine my bicycle turning into a chair when I wanted to sit down and not ride around. Then it becomes my laptop. Or my cell phone unfolds into a laptop. . . . We live in a computational world where software is reprogrammable. . . . Programmable matter represents doing the same thing for hardware. . . . If you want to get the latest cell phone, you have to go out and buy some physical stuff.
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“MIT’s Dr. Erik Demaine explains his enthusiasm about programmable matter like this: “To me the exciting thing about programmable matter is the idea of making gadgets that could serve many functions. I can imagine my bicycle turning into a chair when I wanted to sit down and not ride around. Then it becomes my laptop. Or my cell phone unfolds into a laptop. . . . We live in a computational world where software is reprogrammable. . . . Programmable matter represents doing the same thing for hardware. . . . If you want to get the latest cell phone, you have to go out and buy some physical stuff. In the future we can imagine that the same stuff we have can rearrange itself into a new model. That’s the dream.””
Reference
Weinersmith, Kelly, & Zach Weinersmith (2017, Oct. 7). “Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything.” Kindle Edition. Chapter 5 Programmable Matter: What If All of Your Stuff Could Be Any of Your Stuff? p. 102 of 358, 23%.
