X-Message-Number: 20969 Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 15:33:45 -0800 From: Kennita Watson <> Subject: reassembly by nanodevices Thomas Donaldson wrote: > It would be good if you read rather than simply cited Ralph Merkle's > piece. A physical nanodevice may work out locations of molecules, > but the results of many such devices must SOMEHOW be put togher > to work out the correct locations from the incorrect locations > these devices find. Yes, they could all feed their results into > a relatively large computer (not nanosized, if only because the > memory size wouldn't be large enough). If we're going to be > using nanodevices for repair of frozen brains, bringing in that > computer is cheating. It won't be a nanodevice, though as a > hypersupercomputer it could certainly be made much smaller than > supercomputers are now. If you claim that the computer is made > up of a combination of all your nanodevices, the same problem > occurs (our brains are made up of millions of neurons, but > no one claims that brains are nanodevices). I must be missing something. AISI, a large computer is not needed, given a set of assumptions (arguments about how hard each is to achieve is beyond the scope of this supposition). 1) that each nanodevice can have a unique identifier 2) that each nanodevice can communicate with its nearest neighbors 3) that each nanodevice can determine where in threespace (relative to some arbitrary reference point) each of is nearest neighbors is -- direction may be all that is necessary; absolute distance might be nice 4) that each nanodevice has enough storage to keep a table of nearest-neighbor location data, a set of data on the best fit so far, and nudging heuristics of the "getting warmer, getting colder" variety. Basically, I find it analogous to putting together jigsaw puzzles. While people have found more efficient ways, sometimes it can be fun to put together a puzzle without looking at the box, by just finding individual pieces that fit each other and building the whole puzzle from small bits that grow together at the edges. Brains are not nanodevices; brains are m/b/tr/illions of nanodevices working in concert, which is sort of the point. -- May you live long and prosper, Kennita -- Kennita Watson | Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; | None but ourselves can free our minds. http://www.kennita.com | -- Bob Marley, "Redemption Song" Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=20969