The All-Purpose Nanite (was Re: "Cyberpower" and futur)

Chris Hind (chind@juno.com)
Thu, 28 Nov 1996 01:31:12 -0800


>How would you like a UN ban on all nanotechnology, artificial
>intelligence, and intelligence amplification research? It could happen
>if we get careless with our memes.

But once we have it there's no taking it away. And do you actually think a
UN ban will stop all the countries from doing secret research. Once a
country makes the first nanite it will only be a matter of time before the
tech itself drifts down to the populous after a small nanowar possibly?
Everyone gets the idea that there will be an all purpose nanite when the
reality of things are that nano will likely be highly specialized because
you will need certain tools for certain tasks. Sure you can build one that
can build others but you need to design each specific type of nanite by
hand. I believe we'll have nano before we'll have AI. AI will come shortly
after nano because we'll be able to quickly create the processing power
needed for AI.