March of the Machines.

Whay aye pet, feed us Newc'ie an woorl self replicate!

I should have known that would come back to haunt me *!

Carbon units (and Magpies**) do not qualify for my nightmare (though they are troubling) - I was thinking of something nasty and Silicon based from all that sand. A bit like DNA replication in a cell , but with sophisticated bricks on a beach.

* Translator for those outside a 10 mile radius of NE England.

** link for non-Brits.

But seriously...

I'd imagine you'd get something like an algae, but silicon based...maybe crunchier, maybe it would organise into weird structures like those smokers on the seabed where volcanic activity superheats the water. Some maybe like corals...I can't imagine anything actually bolting wheels onto itself and trundling about.

(PS...loved the Translator site)

Hmm.

Smokers are (I think) restricted to volcanic type areas such as Oceanic ridges/rock forming areas. Coral sort of fits the bill , though it's formed by organic critters.

My intention here was pretty Science Fiction , but not so far as something sprouting wheels !

3D printers have granular compound fed in , and a shape is formed by a control program and a power source. Admittedly the link only refers to a printer that can replicate it's component parts (which obviously need assembly). But what if , in the future , such a principle worked with raw sand and sunlight. Imagine , if you will ;

1. Something is built by man -resembling a box with a grabber arm. It is left on a beach.

2. The arm scoops and dumps sand into it's own box.

3. The box (+ arm) produces a small scale replica of itself

4. The arm ejects the new formed 'baby'

5. The original box uses it's arm to flip along the beach (to acquire new material)

5. The 'baby' grows to full size and starts doing the same.

Yes , I know it sounds completely insane but it's the weekend so I'm feeling slightly madder than normal.. I am suggesting a process , and wondering 'what if one day...'

I want this device to be inorganic. Maybe I should have checked terra-forming sites first , but sometimes a naive and fresh approach works on such things.

(I thought the translator was hilarious , but I'll crush any device I see that gets linked to it !)

I have seen some of the work these machines due. They are used to proto type parts where the set up to manufacture is very costly. To insure the part works. Only problem is its very slow. The one I have seen takes several hours to lay down a one foot length of window extrusion.

The sand crab is cold blooded acquires heat energy from the sun. Gets it's raw materials from the sand and sea. It replicates it self pretty well. On earth man has called this life not a machine. The universe is a large place. Who knows what your looking for may be out there. Just will have to redefine what is life.

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

There are planets out there covered in gray goo....stay off

That's brilliant aurizon - just the type of thing I was looking for. I shall digest it later today and report back. Excellent.

Geeze, and I thought my lunch for today was bad.

Google "Von Neumann Machines"

Thought: 'You are unleashing what is essentially a new life frorm.
What controls its expansion?

Thanks Guest ! I really should have thought to do some googling before posting this thread . Anyway , I thoughtthis was a nice summary. The end phrase about such things being a remote possibility for the possibility is a bit vague. It reminds me of Kelvins quote that I used to use :"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible".

I guess that a new life-form is only constrained in the same ways that human life is. Used up resources , systems breakdown etc. Many great empire in history have collapsed due to over expansion, invasion, social breakdown etc. These things make reasonable analogies for 'machine life'. Another thought is would we know that such life as I suggest had begun. Spores on a petri dish are not immediately seen.

If protein is a machine, its as easy as getting stranded on a tropical island with ginger and maryann.

On another note, a lathe was considered to be the one machinethat is capable of reproducing all of the parts needed to make duplicates.

That was before they invented software piracy...

milo

Arrr milo , ye makes good points .Shiver me timbers.

Arrr milo , ye makes good points .Shiver me timbers.

Q. Why are pirates evil?

A. They just Arrrr.

I suggest ye change yer name in order to save yer reputation - 'Del the Cat o' Nine tails' . Darn it ye caarnt. Ye be stuck as Del the Cat shipmate. Avarst. Splice the maintail methinks.

"How possible is it to build a self replicating machine ?"

The more complex the machine the more difficult the replication.

There was a Sci-Fi book/story title IIRC "The Return of Rama" quite a few years back. The great space ship, RAMA, was spotted approaching earth and a crew was dispatched to intercept it and determine its past and projected future.

One man was able to find the entrance and explore it as it approached it rendevous with the sun. The closer it approached earths orbit and the sun the more activity became evident. I appeared that everything built small modules, followed by larger and larger ones, prepared the soil grew crops, harvested them, and eventually became dormand again as Rama receded from the sun. The explorers left in time to returen to earth.

Thanks Stan,

It looks like part of a Trilogy , mainly by Artur C Clerk. I know little of Science fiction , but I like the concepts that come from it - I'm just too lazy for fiction generally. I'll keep an eye out for a film version - I would think there is one. Conversely , I enjoyed the film 'Contact' and now want to read the book because I'm told the maths angle is fun.