doom@portia.stanford.edu (Joseph Brenner) (09/13/89)
Some time ago I presented an argument that it's difficult to use very simple nano-manipulators to do something useful on the macroscale, because if you don't have self-replication, it's hard to make enough manipulators to do anything. I still think this is more or less correct. Unfortunately, I crunched some incorrect numbers in my analysis. The surface atomic density of silicon is more like 10^5. It's the volume density that's about 10^22. So what's seven orders of magnitude, anyway? -- Joe B.
doom@portia.stanford.edu (Joseph Brenner) (09/20/89)
A brief errata to my previous errata: when I said 10^5 I meant 10^15. Slight difference there. -- Joe B.