Comments on: Nanotechnology in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

By: Nanoman

Nanoman — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:16:13 +0000

Answer: Self Replicating Stand Alone Nanobots are not necessary for Exponential Manufacturing. Various designs (and yes more work needs to be done) show that a system as a whole can be self-growing in an exponential way (provided with sufficient energy, materials, and information) without individual units being self replicating.

By: James G.

James G. — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:47:26 +0000

Well that still leaves the problem of how are you going to manufacture enough of them without making them self-replicating? That is what I was trying to say in my first post on this topic. People talk of not needing self-replicating nanobots because of desktop manufacturing systems, but it’ll take too many years to make just one of those without self-replicating nanobots. The argument doesn’t make sense in my opinion.

By: Christine Peterson

Christine Peterson — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:04:59 +0000

Hi James — I think the argument made on this topic is that nanoscale robotic devices need not be self-replicating, as early designs suggested. —Christine

By: James G.

James G. — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:49:38 +0000

Sounds like a good book. On the out-dated concept bit, I feel people are just saying nanobots are out-dated designs so people won’t panic. Yes, it’s better to have desktop manufacturing devices, but how are you going to build the first one? It would have to be built atom by atom, and you would need nanobots to build it that way, which means they will have to be built first which means no it is not an out-dated concept. Nanobots only have a few billion (roughly) atoms to be built in precise position as opposed to a desktop manufacturing plant’s tens of trillions or so, it will be far easier to produce a nanobot without MNT meaning they will almost certainly come first.