But who knows. Maybe when society is so advanced that we have infinite power from controlled fusion, extremely accurate and high powered lasers and magnetic field generators, and quantum computers, we'll be able to build a box that moves around individual atoms to construct something.
Though that doesn't mean that nanotechnology is impossible. In fact, nanomachines in the form of microbes precede any macromachines. We are getting better and better at controlling microbes. Though we won't be able to use genetic programming on microbes alone to make a cake or steak from scratch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drexler%E2%80%93Smalley_debate_...
But who knows. Maybe when society is so advanced that we have infinite power from controlled fusion, extremely accurate and high powered lasers and magnetic field generators, and quantum computers, we'll be able to build a box that moves around individual atoms to construct something.