Re: NANO/SOC: Nano article in ZDNet

From: Brian Atkins (jbatkins@mindspring.com)
Date: Wed Aug 02 2000 - 20:25:31 MDT


[Non-member submission]

In fact the nanobots have been mentioned many times, along with showing
many times how the borg assimilate beings by injecting them in the neck
with the bots. Anyone who watches any trek would be pretty familiar with
it all. What, you haven't been watch all those Voyager eps? :-)

hal@finney.org wrote:
>
> Greg writes:
> > Check out this article in zdnet -- and especially the follow-up posts as a
> > good cross-section of "average Joe" reaction:
> >
> > http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2610573,00.html
>
> Not too surprising overall, some pro, a lot of worries. Pretty reasonable
> for a first exposure to the ideas.
>
> One thing that did surprise me was the many comparisons to Star Trek's
> Borg. While nano would presumably make the Borg more possible, their
> technology doesn't seem to be particularly tied to nanotech, any more
> than any other futuristic tech. (I know the Voyager show did claim that
> assimilation involved injecting nanobots, but only dedicated fans would
> be aware of that, as it was mentioned in only a couple of episodes of
> that relatively low-rated Star Trek series.)
>
> Concerns about out-of-control nano or engineered viruses seem much more
> plausible as a first reaction. "Thinking small" just doesn't seem to lead
> to an image of the Borg. Perhaps it is just a metaphor for unstoppable
> future changes.
>
> Hal



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