71. Conflict between general research
and applied research
Ray Kurzweil points to a phenomenon he
calls Òengineer's pessimism,Ó that engineers working on a difficult problem
will overestimate its difficulty because they are so closely immersed in
details51. Similarly, in nanotechnology there is a split between
theoretical researchers focused on long-term goals, like Rob Freitas and Eric
Drexler, and more applied researchers, like Nadrian Seeman and the late Richard
Smalley. This led to a bitter rivalry between Drexler and Smalley until
Smalley's death in 2005. Generalists sometimes accuse engineers of focusing overmuch on
what has already been done rather than the space of what's possible, or not
taking the long-term view, or considering developing new basic capabilities,
while engineers accuse the generalists of being overoptimistic or
pie-in-the-sky. There is a grain of truth to both charges.