Nanotechnology Danger: Grey Goo

One of the more interesting concerns of nanotechnology is 'grey goo.' The term was invented by Eric Drexler to describe one of the dangerous issues that must be faced as nanotechnology capabilities evolve. Here’s how it works: 1. Pretend that nanotechnology truly exists to the point where we can fabricate machines of arbitrary complexity using individual atoms or molecules. 2. Pretend that these machines have sufficient complexity and computational means that they can make copies of themselves using whatever happens to be lying within their reach. 3. Pretend that their fabrication systems are such that they can make a copy of themselves about once an hour. 4. Pretend that one of these machines decides to do nothing except make copies of itself. It’s a bit worse than the Borg. The idea is that everything gets converted into grey goo: you, me, trees, chickens, and everything. By comparison, let’s think a bit about my favorite bacterium, e. coli. This bacterium lives in your stomach and mine, and is about 10 micrometers in width, and can make a copy of itself in about 20 minutes. If just one e. coli decided to replicate itself uncontrollably, it could perform the same feat as our hypothetical nanomachine in about a day and a half. Because of this concern, there are those in the nanotechnology community who have proposed legislation that would make it illegal to create a nanomachine with the ability to make a copy of itself. One wonders if we should advocate similar legislation for bacteria.