From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Tue Aug 05 2003 - 07:42:25 MDT
On Tue, Aug 05, 2003 at 02:48:53PM +0200, Alfio Puglisi wrote:
>
> And now I find this comment on Slashdot:
>
> >I wonder if this research can lead into
> >the electricity in -> ATP/Glucose out.
> >People powering PDAs with a little blood
> >or spit is cute, people running on electricity
> >no farms, no food, no obesity, etc would be revolutionary.
>
> Has anyone any insight on this? I didn't think about inverting the
> process, mostly because I have no idea on how to do it, but the concept
> seems really interesting - just stick your fingers into the outlet each
> morning and you're fine for the day!
Clearly we need more than energy to function. We need nutrients to
build new protein and lipids for various functions, replacements for
lost molecules and of course lots of water. We lose plenty of
molecules and atoms because of the way we are evolved; it is easier
to get replacements than recycle.
A device that took ADP and phosphoric acid to ATP would need to be
intracellular, since ATP is so quickly burned. A device that
converted carbon dioxide and water to glucose would be more easily
integrated, although it would have some cooling issues
(energetically uphill, thermodynamic losses, likely at least a few
tens of watts for normal metabolism). It would need to keep track of
insulin levels in order not to cause type II diabetes.
Using such a device in everyday life would be troublesome, since we
can too easily get enough glucose anyway. The device might detect it
and turn off (and even go into glucose burning mode), but it would
not be much of an help. In an emergency it could provide energy, but
there remains a need for protein, fats and some other essentials,
and when you eat them you can just as easy get the calories.
So in the end the device might be less useful than it seems. If it
nanofactures other nutrients, e.g. from recycled waste, then it
would be more useful.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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