OT: Nanotech?

[rdouglass]

While perusing my email today, I came across this website about micromachines. Cool stuff when you think about the scale. The link takes you to the images page, but there's quite a bit of other cool stuff there too.

http://mems.sandia.gov/scripts/images.asp

[Captain Kwok]

Thanks for the link!

When I worked in the electronics field for a bit, I did some micro-work but definately not on that scale. It must take a lot of skill and effort to build machines that small.

[geoschmo]

What is this that the bugs are building? Some kind of doomsday machine? Is the world about to be conquered by intelligent, malevolent spider mites?

[Captain Kwok]

geoschmo said:
What is this that the bugs are building? Some kind of doomsday machine? Is the world about to be conquered by intelligent, malevolent spider mites?

Allergies are on the rise too - it might be the first phase in their master plan.

[Gandalf Parker]

I love the idea of nanotech. I especially love the technomage series from Babylon 5.

However in my computer security background, my knowledge of viruses and trojans gives me a basis for abit of fear in where nanotech might end up.

[Aiken]

Nanotech is the Holy Grail of moder civilization, much like nuclear energy was in 50s. But Nuclear Age of Prosperity turned into the Cold War and the treat of mass destruction. Now meditate on the fact that nuclear bomb is just a toy compared to 1(!) advanced selfreplicating nanoassembler.

And in spite of my fear of this alien future, I'm delighted with huge amount of possibilities which nanotech will bring to our life. Of course informational security will be a question of survival, not just erased data. It sounds absurd for us, but it will be a common fact for our grandchilds.

[Gandalf Parker]

aiken said:
Nanotech is the Holy Grail of moder civilization, much like nuclear energy was in 50s. But Nuclear Age of Prosperity turned into the Cold War and the treat of mass destruction. Now meditate on the fact that nuclear bomb is just a toy compared to 1(!) advanced selfreplicating nanoassembler.

And in spite of my fear of this alien future, I'm delighted with huge amount of possibilities which nanotech will bring to our life. Of course informational security will be a question of survival, not just erased data. It sounds absurd for us, but it will be a common fact for our grandchilds.

Its not the informational security that worries me. Its the idea that what worms/viruses/trojans do to computers, nanobots might do to humans. The possibilities for weapon use are scarey

[Aiken]

My point was that those times human body will turn into high perfomance bioinformational system, including medical computer, connections with outer infosphere and defensive nanosystems.

* 9/9/2054: aiken is wake up and going to bathroom, checking for BioCMOS and antinanovirus updates simultaneously. And thanks Big Brother, that patch for MS Windows Insider 5 has been released this night, because new Win128.Sphincter.Relax.D nworm caused him some serious troubles yesterday. Darn nackers!*

Pure cyberpunk, in other words

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Including coorporations ruling everything, your rights only enforcable to the end of the range of your weapons and human life thought of as cheap?

That IS cyberpunk.

[Kamog]

I wonder when we'll have nanites that can cure cancer and other diseases by selectively destroying cancer cells and pathogens in the body?