Nanotechnology and its future applications

[barehl]

Not really. It's merely a re-statement of a thought experiment I've been toying with since the first time I saw kudzu.

That's what I'm saying, nanites only exist and will only ever exist in your imagination, not in reality. So, there is zero chance of this happening outside of a thought experiment.

Perhaps, perhaps not--I doubt anyone, including you, understands sentience sufficiently to answer that question. Further, you're confusing a sentient nanite with sentient nanites, a critical error. Neurons aren't sentient. Humans are.

No, I'm actually not confused. I can say with absolute certainty that even if nanites were possible, they could not be sentient even if you had a mass of them the size of the Moon. This is true for the same reason that bacteria cannot form a group consciousness even though I have read a number of science fiction stories with this premise. Colonial or distributed consciousness/intellect/sentience is not possible at all with biological organisms and is only possible with mechanistic devices under certain limitations.

How do you build a supercomputer when you can't build a supercomputer?

Perhaps you could define this question better. I'm pretty familiar with most of the early supercomputers. BTW, if your claim is clustering then all you have to do is note that none of the early supercomputers used clustering. That was a later development after supercomputers were well established.

 

[barehl]

I don't think you'd need sentient nanites to do something "intelligent" (scare quotes used deliberately, I mean some complex task which appears to require some problem-solving strategy). There are many examples of robots following simple rules

Insects are not intelligent. Insects are environmentally reactive. But this doesn't apply anyway since all of the examples you gave are on a macro scale. On this scale, we already have cluster supercomputers. Nanites (even if they were possible) would fall outside of the limitations for distributed processing. It cannot be done.

 

[Jodie]

What about slime mold? Don't they coalesce into a blob and move? That shows some kind of group planning skills. If single cell slime mold can do it, why not nanobots?

 

[Ziggurat]

What about slime mold? Don't they coalesce into a blob and move? That shows some kind of group planning skills. If single cell slime mold can do it, why not nanobots?

As barehl said, that's environmentally reactive. It's also cooperative. But it's not intelligent.

 

[Dinwar]

That's what I'm saying, nanites only exist and will only ever exist in your imagination, not in reality. So, there is zero chance of this happening outside of a thought experiment.

Thank you for demonstrating you have no concept what a thought experiment is.

No, I'm actually not confused.

And you continue to fail to differentiate between the concepts.

This is true for the same reason that bacteria cannot form a group consciousness even though I have read a number of science fiction stories with this premise.

I take it you've never spoken with a microbiologist. Many joke (not without reason) that we are nothing more than bacterial collonies with delusions of grandure. And they weren't talking about the fact that we have a lot of bacteria in us--rather, they were commenting on the nature of eukariotic cells.

I'm pretty familiar with most of the early supercomputers.

Which is as relevant as understanding early cars is when discussing the operations of nuclear air-craft carriers.

As barehl said, that's environmentally reactive. It's also cooperative. But it's not intelligent.

It's reached the level of intelligence of most undergrads.

 

[catsmate]

I might be wrong, but I suspect that you can't even build nanites capable of general computation. How many working logic gates can you fit into a machine less than 100nm long? Especially when you have to include the power supply (or power receiver) within that space.

That would depend on the size of your logic gates.
And of course the requirements for sentience.

 

[theprestige]

I am hopeful that in the near future nanotechnology can be applied to bridge lesions in the central nervous system, restoring sensation and motor control to people afflicted by Multiple Sclerosis and similar conditions.

 

[Jodie]

I hope you are right, I was just diagnosed with MS, the mild kind with a good chance that it won't get any worse, but what if it does? I'ld be the first to line up for a nanobot bridge.

 

[Ziggurat]

It's reached the level of intelligence of most undergrads.

Which is... not intelligent.

 

[Soapy Sam]

How do you build a supercomputer when you can't build a supercomputer? It's not a riddle--it's a question with very practical applications, and direct relevance to this discussion.

You get some molecules and stick them together. Then you wait. After a while, some of them make copies of themselves. Then you wait more.
After a while (say 5X10^12 years) you end up with a microbiologist.
Then you get him to grow you another supercomputer.

I dunno if an ant is sentient, or anthills either, but then they don't actually need to be for their behaviour to look a lot like it would if they were.

Getting a bit OT though.