> > spike wrote: The Star Wars movie got me to thinking that strong
> > nanotech could result in a device that is kinda analogous to a neuron,
> > except much smaller. ... The combined mass of the
> > billion nanoneurons would be about one nanogram....
>
> [Billy Brown Hmmmed]: Yes, you should be able to do useful amounts of
> computation without any problems. Couple that with passive sensors, and
> you could have a very powerful metabolic monitoring system....
Ya, what I actually had in mind was a kind of ride-along metamind that would be operating on a much faster timescale than humans do. Perhaps this metamind was what told Obiwan's master that Jar Jar was about to do that rude lizard tongue thing at the dinner table. (Recall the force-filled Jedi guy moved so fast he was able to grab Binks' tongue in mid-apple-snatch-maneuver.)
If we had these nanoneurons on the surface of a few mitochondria, they could form a nanoscale community that would not interfere in any way with our normal behaviour, any more than ants interfere in the lives of elephants. If we managed to convince this nanocommunity to work with us on our scale, observing our world and sending up to our minds intuitions and ideas, this forms (sorta-kinda) a technological explanation of THE FORCE. In return, we would provide them with a nice environment, food, protection, raw material, etc. spike