bagwill@swe.ncsl.nist.gov (Bob Bagwill) (01/22/91)
I'd like to remind people (if it hasn't been done before) that there is a big difference between "free" and "lab" nano[mites,mechs,nits] (let's pick a standard term). We assume that in a controlled environment, we can get these nanomites to do what we want. But like that story (I don't remember the author or title, put it in a FAQ) where the scientist creates machines that scavenge for materials and create smaller versions of themselves, once they get out of the lab, who knows what will happen? Imagine you bought Brand X skin lice, which crawl over you, eating skin gunk and keeping you springtime-fresh. You shake hands with your neighbor, unintentionally transfering some lice. Unfortunately, he bought Brand Y skin lice, and they start eating each other. Or they are using different cleaniness criteria, and his skin gets eaten off. Or they exchange data (like viruses and bacteria) and they begin devouring the furniture. A trivial, but realistic problem, I think. With free nanotechnology, one ends up with a whole new microscopic ecology, like the one that exists now with viruses and bacteria and algae and mites and worms and so on, which we still know almost nothing about. Imagine wars (of a kind) between the existing microbiotics (eomicrobiotics?) and these neomicrobiotics. The mind boggles. -- Bob Bagwill NIST Software Engineering Group/NCSL Technology Bldg, Room B266 bagwill@swe.ncsl.nist.gov Gaithersburg, MD 20899 voice (301)975-3282 fax (301)590-0932