kk@SUN.COM (Kirk Kelley) (06/11/89)
I can imagine that one reason there is no evidence of any extra terrestrial intelligence is because it always ends up as grey goo. The most viable solution I've heard is the idea of nano-robo-cops or blue goo. (Who do I credit?) But how is it possible that blue goo can be made more viable than grey goo? Which form of blue goo would be the most viable? One that protected dna based life forms or one that just protected itself against grey goo? I will incorporate any good answers into Viability Changes, a Hypercard+STELLA based simulation game. -- kirk ["Blue Goo" was first used by Alan Lovejoy... --JoSH]
macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod) (06/13/89)
In article <8906120201.AA12584@athos.rutgers.edu> kk@SUN.COM (Kirk Kelley) writes: >I can imagine that one reason there is no evidence of any extra >terrestrial intelligence is because it always ends up as grey goo. >The most viable solution I've heard is the idea of nano-robo-cops or >blue goo. (Who do I credit?) But how is it possible that blue goo >can be made more viable than grey goo? It's all grey, really. "Blue goo" is the most dangerous grey goo, because it thinks it's Blue (i.e.. a "Good Guy") and attempts to carry out its mandate to Do Good. Considering the havoc wrought by human societies trying to Do Good, I don't expect much better from the Goo. Jack Williamson's "The Humanoids" was probably the first exploration of this theme in detail. Michael Sloan MacLeod (amdahl!drivax!macleod) ["Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"... This problem has a long philosophical history behind it, and, IMHO, *no known solution*. I think Williamson may have been writing in reaction to Asimov's oft-touted 3 Laws of Robotics, which have a fatal flaw (latterly well understood by Asimov himself and made into the crux of some recent writings): a robot running under the Laws protects you from what is harmful *in the opinion of the robot*... --JoSH]
sobiloff@THOR.ACC.STOLAF.EDU (Blake Sobiloff) (06/14/89)
In article <8906130724.AA21688@athos.rutgers.edu> macleod@drivax.UUCP (MacLeod) writes: >thinks it's Blue (i.e.. a "Good Guy") and attempts to carry out its mandate >to Do Good. Considering the havoc wrought by human societies trying to Do Good, >I don't expect much better from the Goo. Jack Williamson's "The Humanoids" >was probably the first exploration of this theme in detail. In ST:TNG recently there was an episode which dealt with the attempted containment of "a mysterious disease" which caused a person to age at an incredibly rapid rate, usually causing death in several days. Eventually the "disease" was traced back to a colony on a planet that was used for human genetic experimentation. The scientists had "re-engineered" the human immune system to be active instead of passive. When a crewman from a visiting ship brought some strain of flu that the genetically altered individuals had not been exposed to, their immune systems created some sort of airborne goo that altered a gene that "controlled the aging process." The target of this blue-goo was the flu, but the goo also seemed to attack humans. This is just FYI...and from a rather unconcentrated viewing so a few of the details may be off a little, but the gist of it is correct. Later... Blake -- ******************************************************** * Blake "Hey, where's *MY* fancy .signature?" Sobiloff * * sobiloff@thor.acc.stolaf.edu * ******************************************************** [...and they *finally* started using the technology they claim to have up to its potential: they cure the doctor, who has taken this "disease", by running her through the transporter and simply resetting all her DNA molecules to their previous configurations. --JoSH]