Re: Homework, was Re: Goo You--was Re: Nuke weapon/reactor/waste horror story links?

From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Thu Jan 11 2001 - 14:57:21 MST


Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de wrote:
>
> Actually, I think most of the calculations on power dissipation for
> replication and operation are largely bogus. It's much too early for
> anything definite. I don't see why we can't
> develop something with an energetic footprint of biological life or
> better. Your brain burns 15-20 W, a bee brain about a microwatt. You
> don't have to build anything peu a peu, there's controlled polymerisation
> and self-assembly.

Sure, energy dissipiation doesn't prevent medical nanobots from working.
I'm just pointing out that, whatever it is you do to keep the good bots
cool, the bad bots don't have to do it - and this could very easily be a
crushing advantage. Especially if the design-natural, who-cares energy
dissipation is three orders of magnitude greater than medical/shielding
dissipation limits.

-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence



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