Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms

Hardcover edition
Author	Wil McCarthy
Language	English
Subject	Material science, nanotechnology
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	2003
Pages	240
ISBN	0-465-04428-X

Hacking Matter is a 2003 book by Wil McCarthy. It deals with "programmable matter" (like colloidal films, bulk crystals, and quantum dots) that, he predicts, will someday be able mimic the properties of any natural atom, and ultimately also non-natural atoms. McCarthy predicts that programmable matter will someday change human life profoundly, and that its users will have the ability to program matter itself - to change it, from a computer, from hard to soft, from paper to stone, from fluorescent to super-reflective to invisible. In his science fiction, he calls this technology "Wellstone".^[1]

The book includes interviews with researchers who are developing the technology, describes how they are learning to control its electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic, and mechanical properties, and speculates on its future development.

• Book home page, includes free PDF version.
• Ultimate Alchemy. This article in Wired 9.10 was expanded into this book.
• "Beyond the Periodic Table: Artificial Atoms and Programmable Matter", Analog Science Fiction, Jan 2002