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I'm as excited as the next HNer about technology and the future, but a couple things just irk me about this > "Advances in microelectronics have enabled the us

I'm as excited as the next HNer about technology and the future, but a couple things just irk me about this > "Advances in microelectronics have enabled the use of miniaturized computers for autonomous intelligence at the size of a dust particle..." Calling it "intelligence" is just tiring at this point... Then "> While these lab-level demonstrations show the future of ubiquitous computing, dust-sized computers will only become a new class of computing platforms if they are available anywhere anytime, relying on energy-autonomous operation." It's the "anywhere" that bothers me... do we really want a virtually infinite number of electronic devices around us? How do we dispose of these things? Recycle? Make them biodegradable? And then you throw batteries into the mix? Am I supposed to be breathing in Zinc and Germanium in 20 years?

AtlasBarfed 5y ago
Clogging my lungs is the least of my concerns. This is a very achievable grey goo. I almost think we should have a minimum size of microprocessor, chip, robot, computer at 1 square centimeter. Not allowed to go under that.
- samplatt 5y ago
  Something we can keep out by shutting a door, at the very least. But of course that's not the way it's going to go... If something is possible, someone's gonna do it.
karmelapple 5y ago
> do we really want a virtually infinite number of electronic devices around us? The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson, tackles this very question. Great book, I just recently finished it.
- airstrike 5y ago
  I love Neal Stephenson but definitely need to read more of his books... will pick up The Diamond Age next, thank you
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    Vernor Vinge also explored the implications of tiny dust-sized mesh-networked computers in A Deepness In The Sky. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Localizers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Localize...
    - karmelapple 5y ago
      This has been on my to-read list for a long time. Thanks for mentioning it's related to this, sounds like a neat transition to go from Diamond Age to this!
userbinator 5y ago
Calling it "intelligence" is just tiring at this point I doubt they intended it that way, but I immediately read "intelligence" as in "mass surveillance".
- imoverclocked 5y ago
  Even reading “intelligence” as in AI is interesting in the “millions of cooperative dust particles” sense.
deleted 5y ago
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godelski 5y ago
> Calling it "intelligence" is just tiring at this point... I think more what they are getting at here is emergence[0] rather than "intelligence" like AI/AGI/ML or animal intelligence. Ants are fairly dumb and have mostly simple rule sets but create a form of intelligence through emergent properties. Similarly Conway's Game of Life or even physics itself. I think the problem is that intelligence is often used as a buzzword in marketing and can send mixed signals and makes it difficult to determine what authors mean. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence

AtlasBarfed 5y ago

Clogging my lungs is the least of my concerns. This is a very achievable grey goo. I almost think we should have a minimum size of microprocessor, chip, robot, computer at 1 square centimeter. Not allowed to go under that.

samplatt 5y ago
Something we can keep out by shutting a door, at the very least. But of course that's not the way it's going to go... If something is possible, someone's gonna do it.

karmelapple 5y ago

> do we really want a virtually infinite number of electronic devices around us? The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson, tackles this very question. Great book, I just recently finished it.

airstrike 5y ago
I love Neal Stephenson but definitely need to read more of his books... will pick up The Diamond Age next, thank you
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Vernor Vinge also explored the implications of tiny dust-sized mesh-networked computers in A Deepness In The Sky. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Localizers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Deepness_in_the_Sky#Localize...
  - karmelapple 5y ago
    This has been on my to-read list for a long time. Thanks for mentioning it's related to this, sounds like a neat transition to go from Diamond Age to this!

userbinator 5y ago

Calling it "intelligence" is just tiring at this point I doubt they intended it that way, but I immediately read "intelligence" as in "mass surveillance".

imoverclocked 5y ago
Even reading “intelligence” as in AI is interesting in the “millions of cooperative dust particles” sense.

deleted 5y ago

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godelski 5y ago

> Calling it "intelligence" is just tiring at this point... I think more what they are getting at here is emergence[0] rather than "intelligence" like AI/AGI/ML or animal intelligence. Ants are fairly dumb and have mostly simple rule sets but create a form of intelligence through emergent properties. Similarly Conway's Game of Life or even physics itself. I think the problem is that intelligence is often used as a buzzword in marketing and can send mixed signals and makes it difficult to determine what authors mean. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence