Nano-Simulation (War) Games: was: Singularity or Holocaust

Paul Hughes (planetp@aci.net)
Fri, 27 Feb 1998 11:22:19 -0800


Follows is a snip of conversation Anders and I were having regarding the
possibility of creating a demo or program to help us simulate and play
out various scenarios:

> (hmm, maybe one could even have a small applet that demonstrates the
> effects of the parameters).

>Anders

[[That could be very interesting. I would love to see a full-blown
simulation
game (similar to the war games played on supercomputers by the USSR and
USA)
online where different parties could play together and/or against each
other
on all varieties of nanotech scenarios. As thousands of games are
played out
we might begin to gain a fuller understanding of the most likely
scenarios to
develop. In fact, I'm surprised that the Foresight Institute, now
moving
beyond the mere propagation of nanotech, hasn't come up with such a
program.
Since the Institute is always looking for money, you would think they
would
hook up with Maxis to develop an in-depth "Sim-Nano".

Paul Hughes]]

Does anybody on the list have the necessary skills or time to develop a
Demo? Until then, I don't think we are ever going to reach any kind of
consensus of what are the most likely scenarios given certain intial
conditions and parameters of play.