Re: Nanotechnology

[snip]
> Note that in neither of these models are the assemblers floating
> freely in the air, making use of whatever they come into contact
> with.  In the assembly line, they're constrained by the physical
> limits of the vat.  In the tree model, they're contained inside the
> tree itself; as with a real tree, the only interaction they have with
> the outside environment is when the tree absorbs sunlight and food
> and gives off waste products.

The first half-way believable model for nano-technology that I have seen
-
not that I have paid the subject much attention. But there is a lot of
technobabble around, such as:

> Assemblers that could survive and
> reproduce in the open air would be extremely dangerous; they'd
> probably only be created as a weapon of mass destruction.
>
> Ramifications for the game... well, I suspect that you'd have to
> write a whole new game.  Nanotech will do more than just streamline
> production of tanks and allow for stronger materials; it will likely
> change the face of warfare completely.  Tanks and powered armor would
> quickly become irrelevant; one man with some utility fog
> (http://www.wildirisdesign.com/nano/ufog.html) would be close to
> invulnerable to anything Dirtside has to offer short of a direct
> nuclear strike, and would be able to singlehandedly level a sizeable
> city.  This is just one example.

To make a whole city you still need a lot of material that oyu have to
get
from somewhere. And the proverbial "Speeding Bullet" would pack enough
energy to make a sizeable hole in a U-fog "Solid".

Greetings
Karl Heinz