Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!nanotech From: eachus@linus.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) Newsgroups: sci.nanotech Subject: Re: First Steps to Self Sufficiency Message-ID: Date: 13 Dec 90 21:54:36 GMT Sender: nanotech@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: The Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA Lines: 65 Approved: nanotech@aramis.rutgers.edu In article arc!steve@apple.com (Steve Savitzky) writes: In article autodesk!peb@uunet.uu.net (Paul Baclaski) writes: Of course, one could take matters into one's own hands with a cyberspace home--it might look simple in reality, but with cyberspace clothing, it is anything you want. (E.g., The Futurlogical Congress, by Stanslaw Lem). Brilliant bricks. [This set of exchanges points out that we need to start being more precise about what stage of development of the technology we are talking about. Technologically, we could build a clothes-making machine right now; nanotech makes it economical. We could not build intelligent fibers now, at any price; there is a significant difference in kind between the two capabilities. Nanotechnology is not going to be a technological plateau--it's going to be steeper than where we're standing now! --JoSH] Brilliant bricks sound like a brilliant idea! Seriously, we've all played at sometime or other building houses out of Legos or some similar lock-together toy bricks. Imagine a house consisting only of a foundation, lock together modules, and robots to assemble/reassemble the building. The rest is software. Such a house might initially cost several times what a conventional house would (ignoring for the moment the cost of the software, especially for the mobile robots), but we can simulate the whole thing on a computer. If nothing else, such a house-building software project would be a significant step toward the software we will eventually need for true nanotech. However, such "infinitely mutable" houses might be worth some extra initial cost. In fact, if construction codes were made sensible instead of politically correct, such houses could be substantially cheaper than stick built houses. The technology to build houses efficiently using centrally constructed modules already exists, and is only limited by construction codes. To elaborate a bit on the concept, I'm thinking of building houses from components similar to the mutable partitions used in many offices today, except that: The components would be designed for robot installation and assembly. To the greatest extent possible, replacing any component should only require removing K other components for some small K known for each component type. (In other words, you shouldn't have to take off the roof to move the front door.) Many of the components would be "intelligent," or at least programmable. This programming could be quite low tech. For example, a module with 6 water pipe ends should be configurable so that any input leads to any output, but this could be done with a network of standard valves. -- Robert I. Eachus with STANDARD_DISCLAIMER; use STANDARD_DISCLAIMER; function MESSAGE (TEXT: in CLEVER_IDEAS) return BETTER_IDEAS is...