"J. R. Molloy" wrote:
> [snip] Perhaps the most ambitious application would be designing
> ecological links as needed, such as a machine for detecting and eating
> "foreign species" (however that is to be defined), or accelerating
> nutrient cycles.
>
I have been thinking about this in the context of these big forest fires we
have had in the US. The problem is that if you suppress natural fires the
forest becomes congested with small trees and downed fuel until hot dry
weather conditions foster a conflagration that cannot be suppressed. People
want to live in and near these forests, so just letting nature take its
course is reasonable only in the remote areas. So I was thinking that the
populated areas could use a army of gastrobots that would go out and "eat"
the downed fuel and crowded small trees.
However, I realize that this not too practical given the scale of the task,
and that it is best to wait for nanotechnology. With MNT you could have
swarms of flying insect like devices that are always out there doing the job
that fire would do, but also returning clean burning fuel and other cyclic
materials (hydrocarbons). Just the same, I like the idea of sending
gastrobots out there as a starting point on the development line (less scary
to the public than GM carpenter ants or termites).
-Ken
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:37:12 MDT