Re: Nanobot dangers - pollution


In article <11vc19vrmsb1161@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
<URL:mailto:rhooker123@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

For these reasons I think our nano-bots should be designed more like
like bacteria, so that their outputs could be something like oxygen or
carbon, things that the eco-system can work with.

We have a wonderfull ecosystem which is good at cleaning up organic
material within a range and is very stable, we should use these.

We should probably merge nano-technology and genetic engineering to
create small animals that can be programmed to work rather than little
metal bots.

IMHO

If you plan on running your nanobots on sugar, which they burn
with oxygen to give carbon dioxide and water, this might make
them considerably more complex to fuel, rather than planning on
using solar energy, acquired by photo-voltaic means.

Are you saying they should mimic the photosynthesis of plants,
and make oxygen and hydrocarbons using sunlight, carbon dioxide,
and water?

I don't think we want to have the ecosystem interacting with our
nanotech except in ways very much under our control. Neither are
things we properly understand at the moment, and the possible
interactions between the two could be quite horrible.

Releasing new organisms into the ecosystem, in particular those
that can self-replicate, is a serious recipe for disaster - we
don't really know what is there at the moment, and how it
interacts. Mutating biologically based nanotech could be very
bad, and that's assuming that you've locked-up the genetic info
so it can't be accidentally transferred to other organisms.

Look at how a number of the attempts at biological control have
gone, and that is just existing, stable, proven organisms. We
don't want the nanotech produced equivalent of the Australian
cane toad problem! Particularly if we or something vital to us is
on their menu!

In the longer run, when we have a much bettter idea of what we
are about, and have reasonable assays of the biological diversity
of our ecosystem, and working simulation models that we are
pretty sure show how it works, we might consider nanotech
'animals'. But, initially, this is an area it is almost certainly
best not to mess with, outside high security labs.

--
Rory McLean
rory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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