Scientists Developed Artificial Structures That Can Self-Replicate

First time accepted submitter mphall21 writes "New York University scientists have developed artificial structures that can self-replicate, a process that has the potential to yield new types of materials. In the natural world, self-replication is ubiquitous in all living entities, but artificial self-replication has been elusive. The new discovery is the first steps toward a general process for self-replication of a wide variety of arbitrarily designed seeds."

Comments

Another step

[mysidia]

Towards Grey goo.

Or big nations making mechanical viruses as weapons, and ultimately... those creations at risk of being turned against their creator through malfunction, hackers, or worse.

Re:Another step

[ihaveamo]

Already happened. Except it's pink goo. And it's us.

Re:Another step

[interkin3tic]

And you getting a better computer is just one more step toward skynet.

Or big nations making artificial intelligence as weapons, and ultimately... those creations at risk of being turned against their creator through malfunction, hackers, or worse.

Slashdot: news for technophobes. Lay off the LSD. Every technology can be abused. You're suggesting we shouldn't look into self-replicating structures because one day far down the road, some evil government agency MIGHT use it to unleash a horde of nanobots which will destroy the world? That's absurd.

Re:Another step

[Oxford_Comma_Lover]

The greater concern is that the technology will be used without understanding of the consequences. The Replicators in Stargate, for example, emerged from an experiment in which a childlike intellect taught its toys to make more of themselves. Research into self-replication, while reasonable, is not without nightmare scenarios or significant potential drawbacks.

The cockroach is one example of such an experiment. Who is to say that in time, we will not create an example capable of out-competing us for some natural resource? So it is not without risk to experiment in self-replication. You can limit the risk, of course. Until someone makes the wrong kind of mistake at the wrong time. Kind of like researching Level 4 biohazards in a major population zone. If nobody does something dumb or protocols require fifty dumb things to happen at once for a problem and no massively unexplained events occur, it works just fine.

Good news...

[GuJiaXian]

...they've created an artificial structure that can self-replicate. The bad news is that it's Ice-9.

Artificial?

[Hentes]

They took DNA, a natural structure that can replicate, and modified it without breking that property. I wouldn't call it artificial self-replication.

From a Biological Perspective We're Probably Fine

[RobinEggs]

I see the first five responses were about science fiction scenarios in which nanomachines destroyed human life.

All that's really necessary to prevent the machines from getting out of control, however, is to design them with some chemical dependencies. If it needs gold or it can only incorporate carbon from certain uncommon molecules to grow then it can't get very far. Plus, natural selection will be true in part with any self-replicating thing. If they get out they'll have to struggle for resources just like any other form of life. There isn't any reason to automatically assume they'll be better at it simply because they're artificial.

There are even scenarios in which it might be nice to design nanomechanical organisms with the express purpose of setting them free; I'd sure like an organism that got along by fixing the carbon in carbon monoxide, the ozone in smog, and the nitrogen in nitrogen dioxide to replicate itself. It could make Los Angeles habitable again, and its reproduction would be limited to the rate at which we produce pollutants.

Re:self-replication is easy...

[Co0Ps]

Yes.. your argument applies to literally everything though... so dismissing anything as "just a chain reaction" is basically saying that "this is just a subset of the universe." In other words your argument is true but pointless. Disclaimer: I assume that the universe is a deterministic state machine.

Re:Uh oh

[Fnord666]

I for one would like to welcome our self-replicating overlords.

Especially if they look like Kristanna Loken

First application: catalog item 2418-B

[ConsistentChaos]

The Remote Self-Replicating Robot Explorer Probe. Be afraid.

Re:From a Biological Perspective We're Probably Fi

[erktrek]

I've also heard that the "grey goo" scenario is a bit overstated given that:

Organisms have already evolved optimal survival strategies over the millennia and if nanobots were made of organic material they would be "prey" to some of these.
- and -
The energy requirements for taking on such a task is unlikely to be satisfied in the current environment (especially if made of non organic materials)

Re:self-replication is easy...

[Kozz]

...if you are allowed to have complex raw materials.

Fire self replicates. Fallen-down dominoes self-replicate. The line between "chain reaction" and "self replication" is very blurry.

I don't think it's as blurry as you'd make it out to be. Fire and falling dominoes are instances of entropy , quite the opposite of what these scientists are after, I believe.