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I've always wondered what the minimum unit for mechanical life would be. I.e., what's analogious to a biological cell? It seems to me to have an automated spa
by tocomment 14y ago
I've always wondered what the minimum unit for mechanical life would be. I.e., what's analogious to a biological cell?
It seems to me to have an automated spaceship that can land on planets and produce more automated spaceships, it would require most of the tools available on earth in one way or another; vehicles, mining equipment, refineries, factories, and more. And for each piece say vehicles you need all of the infrastructure to create those.
- ksmiley 14y agoThe simplest possible "mechanical cell" would be a self-contained machine that can reproduce itself given only raw materials and energy. This could theoretically take place on the molecular scale; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo.
- johngalt 14y agoIt's a different design paradigm than mass manufacturing. Huge refineries and assembly lines are setup because they build large quantities cheaply. Not because this large apparatus is inherently necessary for construction. Think about it a different way. Imagine you had a robot arm with attachments for every type of tool. Grippers, welders, drills, nut drivers, hammers, etc... Couldn't this single arm build anything given the proper schematic and enough time? To further reduce complexity, you could add design constraints to your 'replicating spaceship' so that only a subset of tools would be required. Finally consider what tools could build the other tools. At some point you approach a minimum amount of gear needed. Consider that the minimum amount of gear needed could potentially be under 200lbs in weight and under two meters in height.