If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
This blogger creates graphical programs that simulate cellular processes.
Have a look!
This is a startling example of the trend towards merging software and biology. It might be a ways off, but eventually we will be able to create entire organisms. If you created a sentient organism, would deleting it be murder?
Creating software based organisms could lead to incredible insights on evolution. If a method for reproduction was created that leads to diversity(like meiosis), then organisms could evolve. An environment could be created where only the most intelligent programs survive and have offspring. With the ability to create an environment that doesn’t need to abide by the same rules, evolution could be unimaginably faster.
Robotics, virtual reality, material construction, and medicine are a few of many additional areas that will benefit from this kind of research.
*update*
I emailed the images creator. Below is my email and his helpful reply.
“I wrote a post linking to your web page here: xxxx
I’m confused about how to describe the image. What would a planetary gear do? Are your designs generally for nanobots?Any help will be appreciated
thanks,”
———————-
“Hi,
Thanks for the link!
The gear was first designed by Eric Drexler and Ralph Merkle; I just did a computer simulation. You can think of it as a torque converter that changes the mechanical advantage from the input and out shafts. It is also a speed reducer. I try to focus on things that can be built in the laboratory now (DNA or carbon nanotube stuff) or this year, instead of way in the future, but of course I dig the far out nano-bots and stuff.
You could definitely use a torque converter in a nanorobot.
Tom”
Thanks for the informative reply!
