Well, JD, I must tip my hat to you for turning this thread from one of trivial bickering to actual discussion. That's a RARE thing indeed in both Audiogon and Audio Asylum. As I alluded to above, you are a special audiophile, and we are graced by your renewed presence on this site.
Unfortunately, I have left the "scientific community" for what I feel are greener pastures from a family perspective. Though, I must say that things would have been interesting had I continued on down that path.
You brining up nanotechnology is something that really piqued memories in me. In 2000, before I completely made the leap into the field of software engineering, a group of scientists from the University of New Mexico brought me out to Albuquerque to discuss bringing me aboard a new company they had just launched. Their angle was a revolutionary process producing conductive nanomaterials such as silver, gold, platinum, palladium, etc. To be quite frank, the improvement over existing materials was on the level of orders of magnitude. I must say the prospects were fascinating.
What we soon found out was that though there was far more than tremendous interest in the products they could offer, they were seriously deficient in getting value for their hard work and creativity. The money was actually in the products produced in the next step, which is where a fair amount of my knowledge lay, and what they soon realized was a way to get them there. Over the course of the four days I was there, both sides quickly saw the potential for a most synergistic relationship.
In the end, I demurred, as I felt the risk/reward balance was not to my liking - American manufacturing being what it is today. But, I harbor serious regret today all the same - the ability to obtain a PHD in chemistry/material science and to apply what I had available to me towards audio in the long run.
In truth, of the folks I met along the way in the field, only a VERY small number were audiophiles, and my feeling is that by being in the field, and uniting folks of the type of passion and dedication such as you, JD, a lot of progress could have been made in the past five years.
Briefly, from what I have seen, I possess quite a radical view of the way things work. My two theories are amazingly simplistic, but it takes me a while to convey them to folks, no matter how small or large their scientific background is. First, material interactions are nothing more than playing with puzzles - locks and keys. Some keys fit some locks, and some don't. Not much more to know than that. Time and experience builds the understanding in a person to know what keys go with what locks. Secondly, surface area/particle size is THE most important factor once the key/lock relationship has been made. The more surface area (smaller particle size - ie. nanotechnology), the more of what I call "soldiers" (who do the work) are available.
I don't want to go too much further here, but what most people see in nanotechnology is the ability of having more "soldiers" available to them. And while THAT opens up things that we have always dreamed about, the real power, which most fail to see, is the key/lock applications. By being able to "dope" a material's properties in ways never before possible in this world, we can achieve the creation of a geometrically larger number of materials. The beauty being that we can do this with breathtaking savings.
As an example, a ratio of 55% Palladium/45% Silver makes the best conductors/resistors you can obtain, from a temperature coefficient of resistance point of view. The resistance varies almost not at all over a temperature curve. Further, these happen to be uniquely environmentally resistant as well. For the most part, the audio world has not been exposed to palldium, but in the limited instances it has, subjectiver results have been extraordinarily positive. The BIG downside is cost - Pd being over $1000/ounce, and silver being $9/ounce.
But, what if I could obtain the same or similar properties by using incredibly small amounts of Pd? With nanotechnology, the opportunity to make small amounts look like large amounts opens up possibilities that are breathtaking.
In the end, like any craft, it is the ART, not the science that is where the power lies. The science is always there, but it is the heart of the person who steers the ship to achievement via using what is before him, and solving problems.
Unfortunately, what some perceive as anger or bitterness coming from me stems from the proponderance of snake oil salesmen in audio. Folks who offer NOTHING which takes the craft forward in any direction, yet merely rebadge products manufactured by a third party with multithousand percent profit margins. Truly, I see this as borderline criminal. What is really at the root of my feelings is the potential for the scientific and engineering communities to produce REAL understanding, and ultimately improvement, in the products offered to audiophiles, and do so at what I consider fair costs to the end user. Unfortunately, we seem to be lacking a connection between the two fields to produce such a thing.
