phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu writes:
> "If the goo consists of tiny diamond engines, it consists of microscopic
> particles of pure carbon. Like coal dust and the contents of grain silos,
> only purer and finer. It should explode in the presence of a spark and
> oxygen. In fact," he said slowly, his forehead frowning in doubt, "how could
> goo eat three cities? How could particle of pure carbon dismantle cars, power
> stations, power lines, smokers? One dropped cigarette should more than avenge
> any gooed smoker."
A silicate or a sapphire shell makes mites a mite uncombustible.
> If the goo takes a decade to take over the world then we have a lot of time to
> fight it.
I think it's more like a week, or two. Faster, if the autoreplicators have more efficient spreading mechanisms (air currents, hydrogen filled cavities, random periods of inactivity allowing them to cling to insects and birds).
> Randall Randall <wolfkin@freedomspace.net> wrote:
>
> > It will very likely be made out of diamond, or similar materials. I am
> > unaware that any natural lifeform is able to use diamond as raw material,
>
> Try fire. Oh, wait, not a lifeform. The goo must be safe.
>
> And diamond and corundum take a fair bit of energy to chemically manipulate.
> What's powering this goo?
Why, you. The carbon of your body. The biosphere, the humus.
> -xx- Damien Raphael Sullivan X-)