[extropy-chat] pest-devouring automaton

[Samantha Atkins]

No question that a self-powering machine would be nice.  But this isn't 
quite that any more than humans are fully "self-powering".   It needs an 
external source of "nutrition" to convert to power.   If it isn't too 
much trouble to self-contain a very long-lasting energy source then why 
not avoid all that messy biological digestion and dependence on 
biological food supply?   I imagine we would like to use such small 
robots in environments having no guarantee of an adequate supply of 
flies or whatever.   

As far as having robots eat various undesirable things I think we are 
more adept at adapting existing biological creatures, from microbes on 
up, to such purposes for many applications.   So far, where they exist, 
the biological solutions are often cheaper.

-s

spike wrote:

> Samantha Atkins
> *Subject:* Re: [extropy-chat] pest-devouring automaton
>
>  
>
> Oh man, carnivorous robots. What a concept. Now our "mind children" 
> can potentially compete for food, eh? At least that is how the 
> paranoid may see it.
>
> Wouldn't a nice little fleck of some radioactive isotope be maybe a 
> touch more preferable than instilling hunting patterns (presumably) 
> and the ability to digest biological creatures?
>
> - s
>
>  
>
> Oh no, very much on the contrary.  A machine that powers itself by 
> devouring bio-creatures
>
> is a verrrry desireable breakthru, for presumably they can be designed 
> to devour *very specific
>
> kinds* of biota, such as flies, mosquitoes, gnats, ants, roaches, 
> aphids, locusts and so on,
>
> all manner of pests we would much rather have devoured than not.  Our 
> mind children would
>
> not compete against us for food, but rather devour our competitors for 
> food, as well as those
>
> beasts which spread disease or annoy us.  We might even be able to use 
> their carbon waste
>
> products for some useful purpose (altho it is not immediately clear to 
> me the value of
>
> robot shit.)
>
>  
>
> If we can get this to work, it would perhaps be a step along the path 
> to a more important
>
> development: an herbivorous pest-devouring automaton, which would 
> power itself by
>
> munching weeds in our yards, gardens and farms.  If we could get them 
> to differentiate
>
> Kentucky bluegrass from all other plants, for instance, imagine the 
> fortunes that could be
>
> made.  If it could differentiate corn from shell weed, wheat from 
> tares, oh my, the commercial
>
> value is difficult to estimate. 
>
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> spike
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