Comment Re:Nanotech (Score 1) 340
Unfortunatly, we don't know what the limiting conditions of nanotech replicators would be yet.
A suffieciently robust replicator could go 'goo'.
What if the limiting condition is the amount of carbon in the environment? This makes sense - if we can make nanobots out of diamond, they would be pretty robust (of course, I have no idea what the composition of workable nano-replictors would have to be). Such a replicator that went "malignant" would then convert as much carbon as it could grab into copies of it'self. Unfortunatly, most of the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, and mantle are composed of large percentages of carbon.
Now you might claim - and rightfully so - that they could be limited by their energy source. However - let's postulate a geothermal/solar energy flow.
You ALSO might object that I am simply making up conditions that lead to 'grey goo' that are improbable in that they are not likely to ever occur accidently.
Howver - 'Goo' comes in more flavors than grey. A 'Gray Goo' scenerio is far less likely, I think, than a 'Black Goo' scenerio: A 'rouge' replicator that decimates the biosphere and is DELIBERATLY designed to do so. You might also check out 'Red Goo' - which is genetically targeted 'Goo' - only take out genetically distict sub-sets of the population - such as Blacks, Jews (no, I am not anti-semitic, but there ARE genetic patterns which are most prominent - not unique - in the Jewish population. Such a 'target' profile would have a high 'collateral damage' factor - but some nutcase would probably use it), or Caucausians.
Such 'targeted' Goo scenerios do NOT require random chance to line up their 'initial conditions' just right. Some one brings them about.
I am not being, I think, particularly alarmist. I am enough of a realist to realize that we're not going to stop nanotech by worrying about it, or because it might be dangerous in the right situations. IF IT IS POSSIBLE to develop self-replicating nanomachines (and we don't know that is it - we just think it is - we could be wrong) then someone will do it.
So, what do we do? Accept that there is going to be a LARGE SCALE nano-oops (if it is possible to do) anyways?
Personally, I think that if we determine that large scale nanotech IS possible, we need to dump into a crash research program into developing a 'BLUE Goo' system: Self-replicating, environmentally omni-present nanobots whose sole purpose is to hunt-and-destroy 'rouge replicators' - a nanotech biosphere immunization :)
A suffieciently robust replicator could go 'goo'.
What if the limiting condition is the amount of carbon in the environment? This makes sense - if we can make nanobots out of diamond, they would be pretty robust (of course, I have no idea what the composition of workable nano-replictors would have to be). Such a replicator that went "malignant" would then convert as much carbon as it could grab into copies of it'self. Unfortunatly, most of the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, and mantle are composed of large percentages of carbon.
Now you might claim - and rightfully so - that they could be limited by their energy source. However - let's postulate a geothermal/solar energy flow.
You ALSO might object that I am simply making up conditions that lead to 'grey goo' that are improbable in that they are not likely to ever occur accidently.
Howver - 'Goo' comes in more flavors than grey. A 'Gray Goo' scenerio is far less likely, I think, than a 'Black Goo' scenerio: A 'rouge' replicator that decimates the biosphere and is DELIBERATLY designed to do so. You might also check out 'Red Goo' - which is genetically targeted 'Goo' - only take out genetically distict sub-sets of the population - such as Blacks, Jews (no, I am not anti-semitic, but there ARE genetic patterns which are most prominent - not unique - in the Jewish population. Such a 'target' profile would have a high 'collateral damage' factor - but some nutcase would probably use it), or Caucausians.
Such 'targeted' Goo scenerios do NOT require random chance to line up their 'initial conditions' just right. Some one brings them about.
I am not being, I think, particularly alarmist. I am enough of a realist to realize that we're not going to stop nanotech by worrying about it, or because it might be dangerous in the right situations. IF IT IS POSSIBLE to develop self-replicating nanomachines (and we don't know that is it - we just think it is - we could be wrong) then someone will do it.
So, what do we do? Accept that there is going to be a LARGE SCALE nano-oops (if it is possible to do) anyways?
Personally, I think that if we determine that large scale nanotech IS possible, we need to dump into a crash research program into developing a 'BLUE Goo' system: Self-replicating, environmentally omni-present nanobots whose sole purpose is to hunt-and-destroy 'rouge replicators' - a nanotech biosphere immunization
