From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sun Mar 17 2002 - 04:02:14 MST
On Sun, 17 Mar 2002 Artillo5@cs.com wrote:
> To me it would seem the only way to contain the spread of dangerous,
> self-replicating nanobots would be some form of electromagnetic or
> other energy disrupting forces, such as magnetism.
Nanotech can be completely disrupted by high levels of radiation or
high temperatures, both of which may be produced using non-nanotech.
This is something generally ignored by people overly concerned with
some-color-of-goo scenarios.
> Someone correct me if I am wrong, but grey goo type nano can only
> spread if it comes into direct contact with suitable matter, or in
> theory can a nanorobot snag atmospheric particles and break them
> apart and use them, [snip]
This is true. It suggests an alternate defense that would involve
removing either the matter (creating a vacuum around the nano)
or shielding the nano from energy sources required to utilize
the matter.
A close examination of the current nanoscale parts would reveal
that they all have some essential element that is not in significant
abundance in the atmosphere (carbon for example).
It would of course be interesting to know whether nano that is
suboptimal, but is built out of the most abundant elements (O/N/Si)
could trump optimal nano (C/BN/Al2O3/TiC) manufactured from less
available resources. This would be a question of whether quantity
can trump quality.
Robert
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