The world must know: Have nanobots already taken over half the universe?

[halB]

I came to a bloodchilling thought the other day.

Premise 1:
The universe is expanding, but the expansion is being counteracted by some force. Also, the movement of galaxies cannot be explained by what we see. Therefore, scientists have concluded that "dark matter" - matter which we cannot see because it does not radiate light - populates a great part of the universe.

Planets are dark matter. Basically, anything that is not a star or excited gas is dark matter.


Premise 2:
Nanobots are hypothetical robots that exist at the nanolevel (around a billionth of a meter). Scientists and science fiction writers hope that in the future, they will be capable of self replication. In other words, we hope one day they will be able to tear apart molecules, and create new nanobots with the atoms they find. If a nanobot is capable of replication, and it loses its programming that has it stop at some point, it will assimilate the whole world at an exponential rate. I don't know the raw math on this, but I'm pretty sure a runaway nanobot would convert the whole world in a little under a day. This has led some to describe the "grey goo" hypothesis of armageddon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo

You can see this at work in the GI Joe movie, and the new "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Terrible movies, but they give a good illustration.


This only makes sense. It would be the most succesful virus in human history. Virii infect cells, rip them apart (the RNA and DNA at least), and then use the cells to make more copies of the virus.

It's just that virii have limitations. A nanobot would not. Evolutionarily, it would be the most succesful creature (if it be alive) ever.



Premise 3:
The universe is old. We cannot be the first civilization, and we cannot be the most advanced. If a civilization was more advanced, it is quite likely it had invented nanobots. It is also quite likely that the civilization and its planet were destroyed by the nanobots - turned into gray goo.


Premise 4:
If nanobots were to go crazy, they could convert a solar system in a matter of a thousand years (comets, meteors, solar winds, and other intersolar actors would be responsible.) But it would have to wait for the solar system to come into contact with another solar system to spread outside. However, this will inevitably happen.


If all of these premises are true (and that is not so hard to believe), then this "dark matter" could be parts of the universe that have already been converted to nanobots. We should be looking for whatever electomagnetic signature they would put off. We need to investigate this. It is possible that we are heading into a part of our galaxy that has been converted. We must know.


Does this explain all dark matter? No. There is too much uniformity to believe that this has happened in every galaxy - even immature ones. But this could explain a lot of the dark matter, particularly in mature stable galaxies which would give rise to intelligent life.

This conclusion simply, logically follows.

Thoughts, comments, and of course criticisms are welcome. I just need to spread this message as far as it will go.

If nanobots can be created, and if they do lead to a grey goo, we should and must locate them.

[Shirow]

And then do what?

[BigEvil]

And then do what?

Smoke it, of course

[DeuceSV]

Smoke it, of course

[robo1]

Ummm..... Alllrighty then. Not too sure they could do that. In any case, an emp should fry any circuitry that small.

[roxcreek]

it was an interesting thought until robo came along and blew it out of the sky with a rather excellent point. Anyway, I would like to think that the limits of human imagaination are not the limits of technology that could ever be created.

Another point that I could find a gap in would be the travelling between solar systems or between galaxies... there's not much for the nanobots to chow down on in such a vast amount of space....

[ManInBlack]

After they converted an entire planet, wouldn't they eventually run out of energy and just shut down? Seems like they should have trouble spreading.

[Dark Side]

For the sake of Humanity do not under any pretense share what you have been smoking with ANYONE. We have already suffered enough under the hands of stupidity to be pulled down any further by thoughts such as these.

[sslecyk03]

Interesting read but I also fail to follow in some areas. Lets say these so-called nanobots were able to mass produce and eventually swallow up a whole planet thus releasing the gravitational pull on them and in turn allowing them to roam free in space. This is where I get lost. How do these nanobots have enough energy to get anywhere else in the universe? Would they not die out before they reached another item of substantial mass?

Also, once complete consumption of a planet or other mass form is underwent, the only remaining mass forms within miles and miles will likely be the nanobots themselves. Would they not repeatedly consume themselves and turn your apocalyptic scenario into nothing more than a perpetual blob of "goo" in space? Any argument that they are coded to not turn on themselves would be flawed being that the whole basis of your theory to begin with deals with a break or evolution in their coding which would allow them to reproduce in the first place.

Lastly, if you can postulate that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe that is capable of creating nanobots, could you not also presume that likely there would be a second, third, or fourth other civilization with the same capabilities? What would stop the planet A nanobots that are doubtlessly coded completely differently from attacking the foreign planet B nanobots thus alleviating the problem to begin with? Couple this with the existence of black holes and other space anomalies and I can't see the life expectancy to be anywhere near long enough to allow the nanobots to travel light years throughout space searching for food.

Or maybe I'm just sleep deprived....

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[tribalman]

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA01253.jpg omg it's mars!

2-4. nano bots aren't mechanical. they are not made of steel, plastic, other stuffs. they are created proteins, therefor they have weaknesses. heat (all living matter can't stand heat over a certain temp.). plus we are also researching proteins and the way they are created (folding @ home). in our bodies the proteins we use are created by RNA(which is created by DNA), and assuming there are not genetic defects (one of the purposes of folding @ home is to discover how some diseases like Alzheimers work) the protein is created.
rob mentioned EMP, as they are a bio-essence EMP doesn't affect them as much. they aren't going to short circuit. heck, as humans we are subjected to EMP constantly in our lives.

assuming a society created nano bots they have a very high intelligence. they understand how proteins are created, how they interact, and how to destroy it. and if they can create nanobots they most defiantly can change around the order of the RNA, to make a counter IF the 1st decide to go viral and destroy everything.

assuming for some reason (extinction, planetary exodus, whatever) the creating society were away from their nanobots while they go "berserk" in order for these nanobots to leave a planet they would have to have one of two of these options: the ability to pro-actively affect their movements or an impacting alien source. if they are able to now no-longer just replicate and choose what they want to create, are they no longer just a simple protein and now a sentient being? assuming they are still just the over replicating nanobots you postulate, if they managed to break their containment and went rogue they can spread...to a point. say they are in a building and etc. etc. building is "goo" and no longer a solid. it then proceeds to convert the ground, oxygen molecules (i'm assuming that these nanobots somehow have the energy to break and create sub-atomic bond) into more of the nanobots. now as they have no movement the ones that are created in atmosphere WILL fall into the planet and join into the goo. etc etc all matter on the planet is now the "goo". how do they get off planet? they can't on their own. they pretty much need a large enough asteroid or meteor to contact the planet. not only that, but the velocity would have to be great enough that when the meteor hit it's velocity would have to be high enough to allow at least some transfer into the "goo" that a piece can separate from the overall orb and then fly into space. now the odds of this contacting another non-star celestial body are rather low.

as the Drake Equation states N = ( R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc) x L there is the probability of a smarter society being out there that can stop the nanobots. at this point i'm delving more and more away from your postulation and more into probability and so i will stop.

basically, proteins also break down over time. muscles, brain, organs, hair. everything. odds are likely that the proteins will break down before they reach another habitable celestial body and repeat until the universe is only made up of active suns and "goo"s.


now here's a REAL kicker for you: all creatures on Earth find a natural balance with their environment except 2, viruses and humans. are we not what your are trying to hint at as these "nanobots"

*edited to make the sentences flow better. writing this very late. should have gone to bed an hour ago.....

[tribalman]

[QUOTE=halB]m pretty sure a runaway nanobot would convert the whole world in a little under a day. [QUOTE]


that would depend on how fast it converts its surroundings into a full copy. this is a complex being and the sheer energy required to break or create the atomic bonds is huge. why do you think we don't have cars that run on water? it takes more energy to break the bonds between 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen than is created from the break. this is 2 bonds, how is one little thing going to create the energy to reorder all these atomic structures into a string of RNA to create this new nanobot? all the time cells in our own bodies break down and die. how is a new one created? from the food we eat and digest.

now the nanobot is no longer just creating copies but it is also creating a waste, atomic elements it cannot use. there will come a point when there is no longer any substance to create a new copy and once again, they will probably breakdown before there is a new food source.

as the law of energy states, energy cannot be created or destroyed. there HAS to be a fuel source for the creation of the new nanobot and eventually there will no-longer be sufficient power to create any more bots. then then breakdown and crisis over.

it looks like to me you just really want this to happen. like i do with zombies. god it would be fun, but sadly, not possible.

[ghost flanker]

Allow me to humbly further de-bunk your dark matter theory.

As stated earlier, rocky planets such as ours cannot be dark matter because they reflect light, hence why we can see them. But let's assume your hypothesis is correct; that all matter which does not give off energy in the form of its own light must be dark matter. Have you ever been to Hawaii? Neither have I. But I've seen pictures. My favorite images of the place include night shots of bright orange molten lava spewing out of the maw of Mount Kilimanjaro and running down the side of the shield volcano in great rivers of glowing liquid rock. Sadly though, the lava eventually loses its beauty and turns black as it cools and solidifies.

Through this observation, it is clear that the same matter which once emitted its own light no longer does so. How could this be possible given your hypothosis? Surely matter cannot switch back and forth into dark matter simply through differences in temperature. And if it could, the whole basis and concept of "dark matter" loses its entire meaning.

I also offer my 2 cents regarding interplanetary travel of nanobots.

I think these little guys would find it quite challenging to planet-hop by any means. As stated before, nanobots are most likely highly susceptible to death by heat, especially given their size. It wouldn't take much to cook something so small and fragile, regardless of what it is made out of. Any astroid or comet impact strong enough to hurl chunks of an alien nanobot world deep into space would create temperatures greater than the surface of our sun. But if they did survive blast-off, then begins the long journey where they'd be subjected to billions, if not trillions, of years of solar radiation. And assuming they survived even that, AND managed to avoid being drawn into the mass of a star, the entry into a host-planet's atmosphere, such as ours, would be quite toasty, as well.

By the way, this is what I believe a nanobot would look like --->

[Pyrate Jim]

I read somewhere that a Nanosecond was 1 millionth of a second, and that an Ottosecond was 1 millionth of a Nanosecond.

So, could Nanobots be infected with Ottobots?

[Sumthinwicked]

I read somewhere that a Nanosecond was 1 millionth of a second, and that an Ottosecond was 1 millionth of a Nanosecond.

So, could Nanobots be infected with Ottobots?

not if the decepticons had anything to do with it

[athomas]

I read somewhere that a Nanosecond was 1 millionth of a second,

Its actually 1 billionth of a second. A microsecond is 1 millionth of a second.