Laws,+ethical+policies+and+principles

T here are many fears associated with nanotechnology and the most famous of which has been named Grey Goo. Grey Goo is a hypothetical apocalypse situation in which self replicating nano-bots consume all matter on Earth constantly re-creating themselves. The first time the term Grey Goo was used was in the book Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler. In chapter four he speaks about the nano-bots and if they could only self replicate using a certain material rather than //any// matter in existence. He says: 

// “Imagine such a replicator floating in a bottle of chemicals, making copies of itself....the first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion. In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combined - if the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before.” // 

So with this in mind when Nanotechnology becomes a reality, programs and laws will most likely be enforced that self replicating Nano-Bots can only use a certain substance or are programmed specifically to know what they can and cannot replicate from.

Molecular manufacturing raises the possibility of horrifically powerful and effective weapons being constructed. A good example corresponds with the smallest insect which is approximately 200 microns in size. Thi​s is the plausible size estimate of a nanotech-built antipersonal weapon capable of seeking and injecting a toxin into unprotected humans and animals. There is a toxin called botulism that in about 100 nanograms is lethal, which is about 1/100 the volume of the weapon. Theoretically a suitcase filled with nanobots would be enough to kill every single human on Earth up to 10 times. Guns produced on a molecular scale would be made far more powerful along with their bullets which could also theoretically be self guided. Aerospace hardware would be made to be far lighter and more efficient, it could also be built with minimal or no metal making it much harder to spot on all radar currently in use. With weaponary that is as advanced as this, chances are that they would need to be kept away from the public and kept in the military and special ops. If self guided bullets got into the hands of a terrorist organisation or assassin it would be near impossible to find out who is responsible for any crimes commited, as a bullet could be fired from miles away and still find a specific target. Also the simple fact that 50 billion nanobots can fit inside a suitcase, each individual one filled with enough poison to kill a person, is a very seductive thought in the minds of a terrorist group, or in the minds of a third world government for use in extortion. Then we must also think that if these nano bots were fused with A.I. what they may decide to do themselves. A common end of the world scenario is a robot uprising, which if technology such as this existed would be very simple and easy (in theory).

As nanotechnology does not apply only to robotics, laws will need to be applied to the usage of molecular constructed materials as well as laws in the programming of A.I. fused with the robots. The three laws of robotics would need to be applied to all robots infused with A.I.


 * 1.** A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
 * 2.** A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
 * 3.** A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Yet even still, faults have been found in these three simple laws, which is a risk that should not be lightly considered.

//By Joshua Blood//