From: Gina Miller (echoz@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Mar 25 1999 - 15:26:17 MST
Section from K. Eric's Engines of Creation
"Replicators can be more potent than nuclear weapons: to devastate
Earth with bombs would require masses of exotic hardware and rare
isotopes, but to destroy life with replicators would require only a
single speck made of ordinary elements. Replicators give nuclear war
some company as a potential cause of extinction, giving a broader
context to extinction as a moral concern.
Despite their potential as engines of destruction, nanotechnology
and AI systems will lend themselves to more subtle uses than do nuclear
weapons. A bomb can only blast things, but nanomachines and AI systems
could be used to infiltrate, seize, change and govern a territory or a
world, but they do have use for bugs, drugs and assassins, and other
flexible engines of power. With advanced technology, states will be able
to consolidate their power over the people.
Like genes, memes, organisms, and hardware, states have evolved.
Their institutions have spread (with variations) through growth,,
fission, imitation, and conquests. States at war fight like beasts, but
using citizens as their bones, brains, and muscle. The coming
breakthroughs will confront states with new pressures and opprotunities,
encouraging sharp changes in how states behave. This naturally gives
cause for concern. States have, historically, excelled at slaughter and
opprression."
Gina "Nanogirl" Miller
Nanotechnology Industries
Web Page
http://www.nanoindustries.com
E-mail
echoz@hotmail.com
Alternate E-mail
nanogirl@halcyon.com
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