Wells was not limited to rocketry and politics. As pointed
out by Gerald Nordley (S.F. Author) at the Contact conference
last week, he predicted self-replicating machines as well...
"From War of the Worlds":
"When I looked, the busy handling-machine had already put together
several of the pieces of apparatus it had taken out of the cylinder
into a shape having an unmistakeable likeness to its own; and down
on the left a busy little digging mechanism had come into view,
emitting jets of green vapour and working its way round the pit,
excavating and embanking in a methodical and discriminating..."
I couldn't type fast enough to get more of the quote, perhaps someone
can find it on the net or in their library.
Nordly also cited some other interesting references by Hobbes, E. Darwin,
Asimov and E. M. Forester (The Machine Stops) in related areas.
An interesting historic/nano intro piece could be written about those
far-sighted minds who could see the advent of self-replicating machines.
Robert
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