<< but it is clear that in order to get a
widely usable, cheap nanotechnology you need replicating assemblers
if only in the factory. >>
Several things come to mind:
In "Queen Of Angels" nanotechnology was NOT cheap.
By self-replicating the "flavor" of the term was (to me) in the biological
sense. Like bacteria eating all the food available. Not in the industrial
sense like the automovile industry (for example) replicating factories first
in order to "birth" automobiles.
The matter compiler (santa claus box...assembler field) is intrigueing to
me....it somehow seems to offer greater controll..less danger...Mataglap
Nano is pretty scary.
But what about a variation on the Penning Trap?...In a zero-g enviroment
could not atoms be positioned appropriately via laser beams?...Wouldn't this
be much easier to build than the other varients?
EvMick