Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: mmm@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Utility Fog Message-ID: Date: 24 Aug 89 03:02:30 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 27 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu With an advanced technology like utility fog, why would you be in a car? What reason would you have for going any place outside your house? Everything small can be brought to you or manufactured at your house, and virtual reality can take you to the big things like the Grand Canyon. It's like saying, "Once we have nanotechnology, what will be the highest recording density on a floppy disk?" The answer is that the question isn't relevant. There won't be floppy disks, roll film, punch cards, etc. I think the only time you would risk travel would be when you move away from your parents, and when you get married. When people have indefinite lifespan, I think they will be much more careful about avoiding potential causes of death. Now, utility fog might make sense in the home. Here in California, we get a 7.0 earthquake every couple of hundred years. The East Coast also gets large earthquakes, but less frequently. (However the largest earthquake ever to hit the U.S. was the New Madrid earthquake, which rang church bells in Boston.) If you are planning to live for 1000 years in California, you must be prepared to survive several severe earthquakes. (Assuming a way to predict or prevent earthquakes doesn't render the problem moot; of course, there will still be the threat of being hit by a meteor.) [In the long run, you just transmit your downloaded "self" to the Fog wherever you want to appear. In the short run, who knows what kind of beloved toys (ie cars) you might want to keep around? --JoSH]