Above: An assembly line fabricating uniform pieces of microscale diamond tiles. Generated during September 2025 with ChatGPT to illustrate the idea and now ancient-looking by modern standards. See chapter text for details.
From my linkedin: Excited to see the finished result and honored to have been given a chance to provide a perspective on how atomically precise manufacturing (APM, now well on its way along the path from science fiction to a technical profession) could make nearer-term inroads into the broadening disciplines pursuing the goals of extending and expanding, perhaps eventually radically, human life and healthspan.
Part of the Professional Practice in Governance and Public Organizations (PPGPO) book series – a three volume set, with Volume 2 containing discussion of "Technological Possibilities" (for which Atomically Precise Manufacturing (APM) certainly fits). The website for the series is now live at barzilaiconsulting.com/fols. The first major social media announcement for the series was posted recently by David Barzilai on linkedin and select buzz is to be had on twitter/x.
From the press release: It's the first academic series of this scale to unite these fields in a single interdisciplinary treatment of longevity science and medicine, bringing together more than 100 leading voices to survey where the field stands today and chart where it may be headed next.
As described in the reproduced abstract below, my chapter provides a very brief background on the field (dare I call it a "nanohistory"), controversy, possibilities, and a very small selection of the issues surrounding diamondoid APM (that's right), then dives into an even smaller selection of some material-centric applications that could be pursued that might have direct bearing (no pun intended) on the broader objectives of longevity and, in this volume's case, exceptional-to-radical longevity. Taking as near-term a perspective as one arguably could for such an advanced technological capability, the application exploration is constrained to structures and designs containing "no moving parts," which may or may not be sufficient to annoy parties on both sides of the feasibility debate.
Between The Protein And The Flywheel โ Early Atomically Precise Manufacturing And Longevity Applications
Atomically precise manufacturing (APM) is a potentially revolutionary technology for achieving radical longevity both in parallel with and beyond the expected capabilities of nearer-term biology-based approaches. With its foundation in the early molecular nanotechnology vision articulated by K. Eric Drexler and others, APM proposes deterministic control over the position, identity, and bonding of individual atoms to fabricate structures beyond the limits of conventional chemistry. Issues of changing terminology are addressed, after which the discussion centers on the diamondoid materials that have been the leading theoretical platform for nanoscale mechanical systems, owing to their rigidity, chemical stability, thermal resilience, and computational tractability. The promise and constraints of diamond-based nanostructures across the nanoscale and microscale are then considered, from coatings and patterned biointerfaces to nanoscale binding sites and architected drug-delivery frameworks. The known biocompatibility of diamond-like carbon, nanocrystalline diamond, and functionalized nanodiamonds becomes a basis for proposed near-term translational applications, including improved implant surfaces, neural interfaces, and tunable pharmaceutical delivery systems. Beyond the use of diamond as a raw nanoscale material, APM-enabled artificial molecular receptors capable of reproducing biological binding pockets with atomic precision are proposed, capable of dramatically enhancing biomarker detection, metabolic monitoring, and early diagnosis. The many possibilities of near-term APM are considered in light of recent experimental advances bridging theory and laboratory demonstration that highlight APM is beginning to transition from conceptual framework to emerging practice. Across the spectrum of applications, APM represents a convergence of chemistry and engineering that may ultimately redefine manufacturing limits, expand human adaptability beyond terrestrial constraints, and provide new technological pathways toward radical longevity.
And the requisite author bio. You never know how much to write until you see the rest of them (only to find out you're one of those who wrote too much).
Damian G. Allis Ph.D. has spent the past quarter century exploring the theory and chemistry of mechanosynthesis in pursuit of atomically precise fabrication (APF) and the manufacture (APM) of nanoscale structures, functional devices, and new materials otherwise inaccessible through conventional chemical methods. During his doctoral work at Syracuse University, he capitalized on the broad applicability of quantum and classical mechanical methods and software across research areas, publishing in molecular electronics, the inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy of molecular solids, the design of molecular nonlinear optical materials, bioconjugate radiopharmaceutical and B12-based drug-delivery approaches, the dynamics of molecular crystal polymorphism, molecular building-block approaches to supramolecular structure design, and metal oxide isomerization mechanisms. Prior to graduation, he received the 2004 Student Prize in Nanotechnology from the Foresight Institute. Following graduation, he served as a scientific advisor to Nanorex, Inc. in nanomechanical machine design and structural DNA nanotechnology simulation, as a bioinformaticist investigating RNA aptamer discovery at Aptamatrix, Inc., and as a contributing editor of the 2007 Battelle Memorial Institute and Foresight Institute โProductive Nanosystems: A Technology Roadmapโ and author of the โMechanosynthesisโ and โSynthetic Chemistryโ articles for that effort โ all while funded by the U.S. Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program to study the molecular physics underlying the terahertz spectra used for noninvasive detection and identification of molecular threat agents and bioactive molecules, both illicit and prescribed. In 2008 he joined Nanofactory Corporation (NC) alongside two of the most prominent proponents of diamondoid nanotechnology, working to advance the field beyond its previously academic scope. In 2017 NC was acquired by Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited, becoming what is now CBN Nano Technologies, Inc. (CBNNT), where he serves as a principal scientist and manager of the Modeling and Simulation division. In 2026, CBNNT completed the progression from theoretical assessment to experimental demonstration, reporting the first instances of subtractive (hydrogen, carbon, silicon) and additive (carbon dimer) mechanosynthesis, resolving a feasibility debate that had stood at the center of the nanotechnology field for over three decades.
The connections between APM and the nanotechnological means to dramatically enhance human healthspan and lifespan are both longstanding and wide-ranging. They also have been jointly framed largely in the context of a matured version of both. Dr. Allisโs work is attempting to address chemical foundations within the field of mechanosynthesis while exploring near-term applications that identify experimental directions, opportunities for early automation, and potentials for mechanosynthesis across materials science, engineering, and biology โ developments within which the means to radical longevity are to eventually be found.
And, as a series on longevity science, it certainly wouldn't kill you to buy a copy.
