# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussions

• Molecular manufacturing approaches remain of interest alongside techniques like DNA origami, with ongoing discussion about the viability of "pick-and-place" nanomanufacturing methods shown in the Nanofactory Movie.

• The Parallax Propeller 1 microcontroller was fully open-sourced during Defcon, including Verilog code and programming tools, making it potentially "the most open chip in its class."

• Metamorph is developing open-source tooling for Project Ara hardware designers using WebGME (http://webgme.org/), with their software to be released as open source per their Google contract.

• MindRDR, an open-source application for Google Glass that uses brain-computer interface technology to control photo taking and social media posting, was shared (https://github.com/ThisPlace/MindRDR).

• DARPA's Advanced Vehicle Make program aims to compress military systems development timelines by 5-10x, with suggestions that measuring current bottlenecks in large-scale engineering projects would be valuable.

• Participants expressed skepticism about cryptocurrency projects like Filecoin, Stellar, and Ethereum, noting that despite technical criticisms from respected developers, these projects continue to receive significant funding.

• The relationship between transhumanism and cryptocurrencies was debated, with some suggesting the connection exists primarily because of overlapping community interests rather than inherent philosophical alignment.