[extropy-chat] Self-Replicating Nanomachines Feasible - Official!

[BillK]

<http://www.smalltimes.com/document_display.cfm?section_id=53&document_id=8007>

June 2, 2004 – A useful self-replicating machine could be less complex
than a Pentium IV chip, according to a new study (PDF, 1.73 MB)
performed by General Dynamics for NASA.

General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems recently concluded a
six-month study for NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts that examined
the design of "kinematic cellular automata," a reconfigurable system of
many identical modules. Through simulations, the researchers
demonstrated the feasibility of this kind of self-replication, which
could in a decade or more lead to the mass manufacture of molecularly
precise robots, display monitors and integrated circuits that can be
programmed in the field, the study said.

The study also examined machine designs that would meet guidelines
established by the California-based nanotech think-tank Foresight
Institute to ensure the safety of self-replication techniques. The
preliminary study is believed to be among the first U.S.-sponsored
studies on self-replication in two decades.

Principal Investigator: Tihamer Toth-Fejel
Consultants: Robert Freitas and Matt Moses


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