Nano-bots on the way?

[dmytryp]

Another cool invention from Israel (we are on a roll lately :) )
http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=8321
Biomolecular computers, made of DNA and other biological molecules, only exist today in a few specialized labs, remote from the regular computer user. Nonetheless, Tom Ran and Shai Kaplan, research students in the lab of Prof. Ehud Shapiro of the Weizmann Institute’s Biological Chemistry, and Computer Science and Applied Mathematics Departments have found a way to make these microscopic computing devices ‘user friendly,’ even while performing complex computations and answering complicated queries.

[Zoombie]

http://www.bloodygoodhorror.com/bgh/files/Smoky_The_Nanobot.jpg

[dgiharris]

A newer version of the device, created in 2004, detected cancer in a test tube and released a molecule to destroy it. Besides the tantalizing possibility that such biology-based devices could one day be injected into the body – a sort of ‘doctor in a cell’ locating disease and preventing its spread – biomolecular computers could conceivably perform millions of calculations in parallel.


Yeah, bet all the drug companies will be shitting their pants.

I say this all the time on this site, there is a host of stuff we don't know, and technology such as this, will make our current medical means and methods look like the dark ages.

So much technology out there that we don't even fully understand the ramifications of it.

Cool time to be alive.

Mel...

[Zoombie]

We're getting close to that technological singularity!

Imagine walking into a store, picking up a single pill of nanites, taking it, and waking up next morning with wings, a tail, a different gender...

The furry community will be delighted.

[CACTUSWENDY]

That will sure put a dent in the old health care programs that are the rage now. lol

What will the Government do then? What in the world will they vote on?

[Don]

They'll vote on who gets the treatments, of course. Some animals are more equal than others, remember.

[Romantic Heretic]

I would recommend the book, The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Age-Illustrated-Primer-Spectra/dp/0553380966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249560451&sr=8-1) for a very interesting take on the sociological effects of nanotechnology. It's not entirely pleasant.

Personally I'm hoping nanotech finds a cure for the paranoia that seems to be spreading at a rapid pace through our society. ;)

[Jcomp]

They'll vote on who gets the treatments, of course. Some animals are more equal than others, remember.

Actually, I'm guessing it'll be more like they'll throw a ton of experimental "treatments" at unsuspecting impoverished people to use them as guinea pigs. Eyes will grow metal tentacles and walk out of skulls, diseases will mutate with the robots to become a new, sentient organism that wipes out thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. You know... the usual jazz...

[Diana Hignutt]

Anyone else read Crichton's Prey?

[ColoradoMom]

Cool time to be alive.

Mel...

I couldn't agree more. :)

[dclary]

We're getting close to that technological singularity!

Imagine walking into a store, picking up a single pill of nanites, taking it, and waking up next morning with wings, a tail, a different gender...

The furry community will be delighted.



And these guys will be ready.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c224/ScooterRooter/Motivators/furries.jpg

[Williebee]

So much technology out there that we don't even fully understand the ramifications of it.

Yup.

Kind of like that old Chinese saying about an "interesting life". :)

[Zoombie]

Anyone else read Crichton's Prey?

Yes!

It was one of the more moronic novels I ever read. Same thing with State of Fear.

Crichton was a hack, pure and simple.

Now, Gray Goo is a problem with nano-bot reassembles, but the initial growth is slow enough that you can atomize the area with, say a Fuel/Air bomb before it gets too bad.

[benbradley]

Anyone else read Crichton's Prey?
Yeah. He recycled a bit from from Rising Sun, the apparently weak or even powerless (ex)husband who ends up saving the world.

[Kurtz]

DA DA DA D-DA
DA DA DA D-DA

[Gravity]

Dean Koontz also took a stab at it By the Light of the Moon. I liked it.

[Diana Hignutt]

Yes!

It was one of the more moronic novels I ever read. Same thing with State of Fear.

Crichton was a hack, pure and simple.
.

Wow, you and I have so little in common. I like Crichton.

Is there anything, literature-wise that you actually like?

[III]

I believe in Vernor Vinge

[Zoombie]

Wow, you and I have so little in common. I like Crichton.

Is there anything, literature-wise that you actually like?

I love lots of literature!

For example, I like Vernor Vinge's work, Niven, Assimov, Clarke...all the greats.

[Delhomeboy]

Smh @ calling Michael Crichton a hack.

[Zoombie]

Fine, fine, he's not a hack.

I just don't like him.

[Delhomeboy]

Great! ;) Now this, on the other hand:

We're getting close to that technological singularity!

Imagine walking into a store, picking up a single pill of nanites, taking it, and waking up next morning with wings, a tail, a different gender...

The furry community will be delighted.

Is simply disturbing

[Zoombie]

...why?

[Delhomeboy]

...why?

To explain will cause me to invoke religious reasons which will, undoubtedly, cause you to gag. :D

[Zoombie]

If we have a soul, its not in our bodies or our genetics.

[Delhomeboy]

If we have a soul, its not in our bodies or our genetics.

True enough. But what I'm talking about is the whole "God created us especially and we shouldn't mess with that" thing. But I feel, from what I've read before, going down that road will just getting me in trouble.

[Zoombie]

Well, I disagree. I think the chance for greatness is worth the risk, and if we can figure this stuff out...well, we could fix so many of the world's problems in a decade!

[Romantic Heretic]

I'm not so good at being human yet. I'm not sure being more than human will help.