From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Thu Jul 17 1997 - 02:54:24 MDT
On Wed, 16 Jul 1997, Anton Sherwood wrote:
> Anders writes
> : The grey goo disaster is still unlikely (I
> : worry more for the golden goo and red goo problem)
>
> Are there as many hues of goo as there once were of Kryptonite?
> (I miss Red Kryptonite. It was fun.)
>
> Is the goo color chart in a FAQL somewhere?
A good idea. The following is from my terminology pages:
BLUE GOO: Nanomachines used as protection against grey goo and other
destructive nanomachines, possibly even used for law-enforcement
(nanarchy). According to the entry in the Jargon File, it is
sometimes used to denote any form of benign nanotechnology in the
environment.
GREEN GOO: Nanomachines or bio-engineered organisms used for
population control of humans, either by governments or eco-terrorist
groups. Would most probably work by sterilizing people through
otherwise harmless infections. See Nick Szabo's essay Green Goo --
Life in the Era of Humane Genocide.
GOLDEN GOO: Another member of the grey goo family of nanotechnology
disaster scenarios. The idea is to use nanomachines to filter gold
from seawater. If this process got out of control we would get piles
of golden goo (the "Wizard's Apprentice Problem"). This scenario
demonstrates the need of keeping populations of self-replicating
machines under control; it is much more likely than grey goo, but
also more manageable. [Originated on sci.nanotech 1996]
GREY GOO: Self-replicating (von Neumann) nanomachines spreading
uncontrolably, building copies of themselves using all available
material. This is a commonly mentioned nanotechnology disaster
scenario, although it is rather unlikely due to energy constraints
and elemental abundances. More probable disaster scenarios are the
green goo, golden goo and red goo, khaki goo scenarios. As a
protection blue goo has been proposed.
KHAKI GOO: Military nanotechnology; see grey goo.
RED GOO: Deliberately designed and released destructive
nanotechnology, as opposed to accidentally created grey goo.
ÜBERGOO: A related term to grey goo, used (jokingly) to refer to the
mistaken idea that during the singularity powerful technologies would
decimate non-transhumanists, and that some transhumanists would see
this as desirable (which is clearly against the Transhuman
Principles). [Dale Carrico 1996]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
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