Re: poly: The singleton hypothesis

 bostrom@ndirect.co.uk ("Nick Bostrom") writes:
>Peter C. McCluskey writes:
>
>> >For example,
>> >they could carry a small pack of high-energy molecules with
>> >them.
>>
>> In that case their ability to reproduce in the field will be pretty
>> limited, which means you need to clarify how they are going to be delivered
>> in order to tell whether they are as effective as today's weapons.
>
>They could have two modes, one where they eat and multiply (they
>could eat some organic stuff for example), and one mode where they
>use their energy reserves to destroy glass.

 Now you added enough complexity that it won't be one of the earliest
possible military uses of nanotech, so you need to do a good deal of
analysis of how defenses against nanomachines will have evolved by the
time in question.
 You haven't fully solved the delivery problem - instead of what is
typically imagined to be the worst case gray goo scenario where one
machine infiltrating the target causes disaster, you need to explain
how large numbers of machines will get past the target's defenses.
 The eat and multiply phase will slow down the attack; it's hard to guess
how much without detailed assumptions about how that works.

-- 
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