RE: Nannite Torpedo

I do understand that nano-machines are in the works, however the
abilities that 
are proscribed to them are just too much.  Larry Niven wrote an essay on
the 
societal effects of teleportation, I was using that as the model of the 
environmental (natural and Man-made) of nano-tech "Life".  If it can
reproduce 
and if it can move, it will escape.  And what happens when it does. 
Maybe the 
virus model does apply...

Michael Brown

-----Original Message-----
From:	devans@uneb.edu [SMTP:devans@uneb.edu]
Sent:	Tuesday, May 18, 1999 5:29 AM
To:	gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Subject:	Re: Nannite Torpedo

***
Michael Brown <mkkabrow@wco.com> wrote:
> I think nannites fall in to the same category as time machines and
teleportation; once discovered would get rapidly and wildly out of hand.
     Think of a biological virus - it's a nano-machine designoid
produced by
evolutionary processes. See:
***

And people call me wacko...

Ok, nano-tech is much closer than time travel or teleporting, tho' less
than
you seem to think, IMHO, but that wasn't the point. The point was that
once
invoked on the battlefield, it becomes FM, and people seem to claim it
can
do anything.

What they keep failing to mention is, if it can do that, it can be used
as
a counter-measure.

Simply put, if one side has a nano advantage, the battle is already
decided,
game is uninteresting. If nano-tech is balanced, it cancels out, and has
no effect on the game. Sort of like stealth. Or Psi.

Unless VERY small advantage,that is; those can be used, but generally
sound
pretty silly to me.

The_Beast