[ExI] My new digital art: a Medical NANOROBOT Concept piece

[spike]

>...Agreed. But I wonder about the propulsion system? At that scale jets 
>are not possible, you need to use cilia...
...-- Dr Anders Sandberg
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Ja.  In engineering school we do so many calculations on the meter scale we
develop intuitions based on that range that we sometimes forget how
different things are on the micrometer scale.  Up here, gravity dominates
everything; down there, electrostatic forces run the government.

We could imagine an engineering specialty where all the structures are
designed at the micron scale.  They wouldn't worry about HVAC any more than
current mechanical engineers worry about the water supply to the building or
the local waste processing plant (other engineers take care of all that
somehow.)  

If one does calculations every day on the micron scale, useful intuitions
will develop naturally.  When we hear the term "wild beast" we think bear,
racoon, ardvaark or something.  The micron-scale engineer would think
amoeba.

spike