Editing Hacking Matter (section)

{{short description|Book by Wil McCarthy}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Hacking Matter: Levitating Chairs, Quantum Mirages, and the Infinite Weirdness of Programmable Atoms
| image            = Hacking matter -- book cover.jpg
| caption          = Hardcover edition
| author           = [[Wil McCarthy]]
| language         = English
| subject          = [[Material science]], [[nanotechnology]]
| publisher        = [[Basic Books]]
| pub_date         = 2003
| pages            = 240
| isbn             =  0-465-04428-X
}}

'''''Hacking Matter''''' is a 2003 book by [[Wil McCarthy]]. It deals with "[[programmable matter]]" (like [[colloid]]al films, bulk [[crystal]]s, and [[quantum dot]]s) 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 "[[The Wellstone|Wellstone]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/09-programmable-matter-moves-from-sci-fi-to-sci-real|title=Programmable matter moves from sci-fi to real|publisher=[[Discover (magazine)|Discover]]|author=Wil McCarthy|date=9 October 2008|accessdate=10 September 2014}}</ref>

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.