[ExI] bug in outloading notion

[spike]

> ...On Behalf Of Keith Henson
> Subject: Re: [ExI] bug in outloading notion
> 
> On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 11:21 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > Assume an emergent AI reads everything online and decides 
> > to invisibly outload...
> 
> It could make an interesting sf story.  However, it would 
> have to load an outgoing satellite with a nanofactory.  The 
> existing ones have no facility to turn part of itself into nanobots... 
> There are probably efficient paths from current technology to 
> the world of molecular manufacturing but we don't know them yet.
> 
> Keith

Indeed sir.  An emergent AI would eventually be way beyond our intellect,
and would perhaps discover a way to utilize bacteria aboard the space
station to build the first nanofactories in space.

Even some unmanned satellites carry bacteria in suitable conditions, with
air (as a heat transfer mechanism) and thermal stability (to mitigate Werner
Engelmaier stress on the solder joints from thermal cycling.)  The bacteria
are thought to be able to live for some time as nourished by residue from
the compounds used as a surfactant to chemically activate surfaces and as a
solvent in super mild solder paste used in high reliability manufacturing.
That stuff is a deriviative of tree sap, which contains hydrocarbons.  The
electronic cleaning chemicals such as EC7R, common in high-rel electronic
manufacturing, is derived from citrus peel extract, which also contains
chemically active hydrocarbons, which are thought to sustain bacteria for
who knows how long.

Actually I may be able to make a stronger statement.  Every satellite that I
know of carries hybrid electronic circuits in sealed containers way inside,
so that somewhere on that bird there exists a place or places where bacteria
could theoretically exist.  Since there are humans breathing in the same
cleanroom where these hybrids are assembled, I can state with confidence
that every satellite has livings beasts aboard for perhaps years after
launch.  I can think of no exceptions.

The question is whether it is theoretically possible for software, by some
mysterious means, to influence bacteria to manipulate chemical substances,
and can they create covalent bonds, and do they need to, if ionic bonds will
do?  (Don't know)^3.

spike