Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: ems%nanotech@princeton.edu Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: Biological grey goo Message-ID: Date: 6 Dec 89 05:02:58 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 24 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu >Chris Phoenix writes: >JoSH, you said a while back that it scared you when someone proposed building >a uranium-destroying gray goo. I hope this makes all of you think about >how easy it is to let our scientific imaginations run away with us. I don't >intend this to be a polemic against scientific advance, but a warning to >advance carefully, when you know what this toy you're building will actually >do when it's built. Yes, I did suggest an nuclear weapon eating goo. For good reasons, I think. I admit I didn't expect the extreme reaction from people who just didn't want those nice old bombs to go away! Later on I suggested the synthethic conscience, another, perhaps cleaner, means of avoiding technological self destruction as a species, especially when you realize that it only needs to be applied to those in positions of power. Gorbachev is doing a really great job these days, isn't he? :-) Ed Strong ems@princeton.edu [Are we to infer that you have perfected you A.C. and infected Gorby? --JoSH]