Re: MIXILS? Nanofog/MEMS in SCIENCE NEWS
Hagbard Celine (hagbard@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 31 Jul 1997 14:56:57 -0400
Anders Sandberg wrote:
>
> On Thu, 31 Jul 1997 EvMick@aol.com wrote:
>
> > >From the base of the above mentioned tower a small flier (bug size or
> > slightly larger) emerges. It is data-linked to the tower and thence to
> > Johnny. Johnny controls it as would a fighter pilot controls his craft. As
> > far as Johnny is concerned his is IN the craft...in some models he may BE the
> > craft. It may be equipped with weapons (laser,sonic,maser) or merely have
> > fangs, claws or talons (or the mechanical equivalent) depending upon Johnny's
> > choice and skill level.
> >
> > It is in search of insectual blood! (Ichor? )
> >
> > Johnny ( and billy, and sammy and jimmy and maybe Janie and judy ....in their
> > milllions across america..or perhaps the entire world ) engage the killer
> > bee...the atrocious aphid...the boll-wevil, the corn-borer,- the
> > mosquito...etc...in mortal combat. And pay what the market will bear for the
> > thrill of the chase....combat...and the kill.
>
> I like this scenario! It would be fun to try one-to-one combat with
> the mosquito (not to mention my arch-enemy the wasp!). But I doubt
> there are enough violent youngsters around to kill enough pests for
> an average farm - the insects still have a numeric advantage, even
> over teenagers. So I would consider this more entertainment than a
> practical form of crop protection (too bad).
>
> But one might use this to train the mini-robots; let a few thousand
> users go out on pest-killing, and let a neural network learn from
> their strategies. In the end we have independent pest-control robots
> who have learnt their tricks from the youngsters.
Can any of the techno-savvy list members explain how a powerful enough
computer can be installed in such a (presumably flying) mini-robot? I
suppose this question applies to all other forms of nano-robotics
(assemblers and disassemblers, etc.) as well. Would nano-scale
processors be small/powerful enough? What effect, if any, does the
Beckenstein bound have on this?