Nanotech and the end of laundry?

[Naive1000]

A few months ago, I reported on the futuristic possibility of robots learning how to do laundry. Alas, technology marches on, and it may well be that laundry robots are already obsolete. Several different companies using nanotechnology are working on products that may well spell the end of the need to do laundry – forever. (Link)

So, what do you think about the feasibility of this technology? Would our preset patterns of washing clothes keep people from even considering using this? Could you wear these clothes without wondering how clean they really are?

 

[learner]

So, what do you think about the feasibility of this technology? Would our preset patterns of washing clothes keep people from even considering using this? Could you wear these clothes without wondering how clean they really are?

News just in.. Sucessfull Nanotech company is planning on moving into smaller premises.

Sorry.

 

[Senex]

I'm very competent at doing laundry. It is a skill that makes me viable in today's world. I don't wish to be challenged by robots. I'll kick their robot asses in a laundry challenge. They will wish they never heard the word laundry when I finish with them.

 

[gnome]

And before that nanoscour will beat me down, I'll die with my washboard in my hand.

 

[gnome]

My final comment:

Misapplied Phlebotinum

 

[Naive1000]

Thanks gnome that was worth the look.

 

[rjh01]

My final comment:

Misapplied Phlebotinum

That will make a great plot for a science fiction satire.

 

[SpuriusMaximus]

TBH, in nanotech's case, I'm not even sure it's Misapplied Phlebotinum, as just hijacking a hyped term for stuff it was never meant to mean.

The original idea for nanotechnology was for nano-scale machines. Maybe not tiny sentient robots, but at least stuff capable of self-assembly or self-replication (see, gray goo) or performing some non-trivial manipulation. A ribosome would be a proper nano-tech example, or at the very least some smart protein could reasonably be called nanotech in the original sense.

Now we see it used for just about anything that uses really small particles, e.g., I kid you not, mayo or paints, for fork's sake. Or even plain old chemistry. Dying a t-shirt with titanium dioxide, a.k.a. the pigment "titanium white", isn't some smart nanotech, it's just using a dye, fer crying out loud. It's not even some really smart new mollecule, it's a simple anorganic white pigment, which they're using, you know, dye a t-shirt white. Whop-de-frikken-do.

And, oh, looky, the ability for it to destroy living cells when exposed to light, by creating free radicals, is also nothing new. We knew that since, you know, using it in UV blocking lotions. The particles there have to be coated in silica, because otherwise they do a whole number on your skin and may even cause DNA damage, i.e., it can be carcinogenic.

So let's recap: they're using a simple anorganic white dye that kills cells, to dye t-shirts white and kill bacteria on them. It's about as related to nanotech as when you use water to dissolve some salts. I.e., not really. It's just chemistry.

The term nanotech may have once been effectively Phlebotinum, but in the meantime it's been hijacked by marketroids and PR folks into something completely meaningless. Anything that has any particles in it or any kind of mollecules, tada, now is nanotech. Your mayo is nanotech, the paint on your walls is nanotech, and the water you drink is nanotech.

Bah...

 

[gnome]

Same thing will happen when the first real breakthroughs in quantum computing are made.

Machines with perfectly ordinary technology will be branded with "quantum" long before actual quantum computers hit the market. In fact that will happen if there's enough "quantum" buzz even if actual working machines are not on the horizon.

 

[Mojo]

So, what do you think about the feasibility of this technology?

It will be covered up by Big Laundry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_White_Suit

 

[Brian-M]

Water repellent cloths sounds uncomfortable. On hot days you'd have damp skin and rivulets of sweat instead of it being absorbed into the cloth and evaporating.

Plus, I don't see how these treatments will get rid of dirt, dead skin-cells, dust, ect.

I think for now I'll stick with my domestic laundry robot (aka washing machine).

 

[Acleron]

Water repellent cloths sounds uncomfortable. On hot days you'd have damp skin and rivulets of sweat instead of it being absorbed into the cloth and evaporating.

Plus, I don't see how these treatments will get rid of dirt, dead skin-cells, dust, ect.

I think for now I'll stick with my domestic laundry robot (aka washing machine).

And use those nanomachines you can buy in a packet, AKA enzymes.