“WHEN A BOY AND A GIRL fall in love, it is often said that the chemistry between them is good. This common use of the word “chemistry” in human relations comes close to the subtlety of what actually happens in the more mundane coupling of molecules. In a chemical reaction between two “consenting” molecules, bonds form between some of the atoms in what is usually a complex dance involving motion in multiple dimensions. Not just any two molecules will react. They have to be right for each other. And if the chemistry is really, really good, the molecules that do react will all produce the exact product desired.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 76)

“In an ordinary chemical reaction five to 15 atoms near the reaction site engage in an intricate three-dimensional waltz that is carried out in a cramped region of space measuring no more than a nanometer on each side.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 76)

“If the nanobot could really build anything, it could certainly build another copy of itself. It could therefore self-replicate, much as biological cells do.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 76)

“Self-replicating nanobots would be the equivalent of a new parasitic life-form, and there might be no way to keep them from expanding indefinitely until everything on earth became an undifferentiated mass of gray goo.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 76)

“Perhaps they would really become ‘alive’ by any definition of that term. Then, in the memorable words of Bill Joy, the chief scientist at Sun Microsystems and someone who has worried in print about the societal implications of proliferating nanobots, the future simply would not need us.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 77)

“Atoms are tiny and move in a defined and circumscribed way—a chemist would say that they move so as to minimize the free energy of their local surroundings.”
— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 77)

“The electronic “glue” that sticks them to one another is not local to each bond but rather is sensitive to the exact position and identity of all the atoms in the near vicinity.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 77)

“Chemistry is subtle indeed. You don’t make a girl and a boy fall in love by pushing them together (although this is often a step in the right direction). Like the dance of love, chemistry is a waltz with its own step-slide-step in three-quarter time. Wishing that a waltz were a merengue—or that we could set down each atom in just the right place—doesn’t make it so.”

— Richard Smalley (2001), “Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots” (pg. 77)

“After reading Origins of Life with my background in chemistry and physics, it is clear evolution could not have occurred. The new book Who Was Adam, is the silver bullet that puts the evolutionary model to death.”

“Recently I have gone back to church regularly with a new focus to understand as best I can what it is that makes Christianity so vital and powerful in the lives of billions of people today, even though almost 2000 years have passed since the death and resurrection of Christ. Although I suspect I will never fully understand, I now think the answer is very simple: it's true. God did create the universe about 13.7 billion years ago, and of necessity has involved himself with his creation ever since. The purpose of this universe is something that only god knows for sure, but it is increasingly clear to modern science that the universe was exquisitely fine-tuned to enable human life. We are somehow critically involved in his purpose. Our job is to sense that purpose as best we can, love one another, and help him get that job done.”