Nanotechnology, not chemical analysis. Drexler’s Engines of Creation contains a section on the feasibility of repairing molecular damage in this way. Since (if our current understanding holds) nanobots can be functional on a smaller scale than proteins (which are massive chunks held together Lego-style by van der Walls forces), they can be introduced within a cell membrane to probe, report on, and repair damaged proteins.
I have not read Engine’s of Creation, but I have read his thesis and I was under the impression most of the proposed systems would only work in vacuum chambers as the would oxidize extremely rapidly in an environment like the body. Has someone worked around this problem, even in theory?
Also, I’ve seen molecular assembler designs of various types in various speculative papers, but I’ve never seen a sensing apparatus. Any references?
Has someone worked around this problem, even in theory?
Later in the thread, Eliezer recommended Drexler’s followup Nanosystems and Freitas’ Nanomedicine, neither of which I’ve read, but I’d be surprised if the latter didn’t address this issue. Sorry that I in particular don’t think this is a worrisome objection, but it’s on the same level as saying that electronics could never be helpful in the real world because water makes them malfunction. You start by showing that something works under ideal conditions, and then you find a way to waterproof it.
Also, I’ve seen molecular assembler designs of various types in various speculative papers, but I’ve never seen a sensing apparatus. Any references?
Nanotechnology, not chemical analysis. Drexler’s Engines of Creation contains a section on the feasibility of repairing molecular damage in this way. Since (if our current understanding holds) nanobots can be functional on a smaller scale than proteins (which are massive chunks held together Lego-style by van der Walls forces), they can be introduced within a cell membrane to probe, report on, and repair damaged proteins.
I have not read Engine’s of Creation, but I have read his thesis and I was under the impression most of the proposed systems would only work in vacuum chambers as the would oxidize extremely rapidly in an environment like the body. Has someone worked around this problem, even in theory?
Also, I’ve seen molecular assembler designs of various types in various speculative papers, but I’ve never seen a sensing apparatus. Any references?
Later in the thread, Eliezer recommended Drexler’s followup Nanosystems and Freitas’ Nanomedicine, neither of which I’ve read, but I’d be surprised if the latter didn’t address this issue. Sorry that I in particular don’t think this is a worrisome objection, but it’s on the same level as saying that electronics could never be helpful in the real world because water makes them malfunction. You start by showing that something works under ideal conditions, and then you find a way to waterproof it.
For the convenience of later readers: someone elsewhere in the thread linked an actual physical experimental example.
Not that I have seen, but I’m only partially through it.
And its an awesome example from just a few months ago! Pushing NMR from mm resolutions down to nm resolutions is a truly incredibly feat!