RE: Nanotech Arms Race

Billy Brown (bbrown@conemsco.com)
Wed, 27 Jan 1999 08:48:14 -0600

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
> Yeah, but a bunch of nanobots can link arms and turn themselves into
> robots on any desired scale - and self-repair, and disintegrate into a
> cloud of dust if anyone comes looking. That's part of what I meant
> about it being absurd to say that nanotech is less powerful than
> macrotech. Nanobots can simulate robots any time, and the simulations
> can do things that blunt robots can't.

Yes, but that only gives you a gross mechanical approximation of a larger robot. If you want any kind of specialized equipment (and you usually will), your nanobots can't simulate it directly. Besides, I get the feeling you're comparing the swarm of nanobots to a 20th century robot, which is hardly the appropriate standard.

Give me a day or two to work up a good example of the kind of system I'm talking about, and let do a comparison of capabilities.

Billy Brown, MCSE+I
bbrown@conemsco.com