nanotech in the cell
Mitchell Porter (mitch@thehub.com.au)
Thu, 5 Dec 1996 11:43:36 +1000 (EST)
[Anders Sandberg]
> On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Lyle Burkhead wrote:
>
> > What I want to do is imbed drexlerian nanotech within biological
> > nanotech. Machines within cells. To do that, first one must create a
> > region in the cell cold enough for machines to exist.
>
> I think you overestimate the need for cold to get machine-phase systems
> to work, most likely they will work *better* at low temperatures, but
> they would work even at 300 K. The main problem I see is avoiding having
> water molecules jamming the devices, Drexler want's a vacuum around his
> systems.
Put all your machine-phase tech inside buckyballs and similar molecular
cages. Neal Stephenson did this somehow in _Diamond Age_ (recall his
'cookie-cutters') but I don't remember the details. The only problem
then is communication between the machine-phase interior and the
aqueous cell environment. Presumably you have something embedded in
the cage wall that sticks out... think of the way ion channels and
other protein structures are embedded in the lipid membranes of cells.
-mitch
http://www.thehub.com.au/~mitch