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Self-Sculpting "Sand" Can Allow Spontaneous Formation of Tools
parallel_prankster writes "Researchers at MIT are developing tiny robots that can assemble themselves into products and then disassemble when no longer needed. 'A heap of smart sand would be analogous to the rough block of stone that a sculptor begins with. The individual grains would pass messages back and forth and selectively attach to each other to form a three-dimensional object; the grains not necessary to build that object would simply fall away. When the object had served its purpose, it would be returned to the heap. Its constituent grains would detach from each other, becoming free to participate in the formation of a new shape.' To attach to each other, to communicate and to share power, the cubes use 'electropermanent magnets,' materials whose magnetism can be switched on and off with jolts of electricity."
We have a technology that could potentially lead to self-organizing micro-particles capable of rapidly forming complex shapes, and your first thought is "What if someone uses this technology to create a club and then clobbers someone over the head with it?"
Speaking for anyone who has ever gotten sand in their ass at the beach, let me say that I'm not sure if I like where this could be going...
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Do they have anything? No. This is vapour ware. Someone has written a research proposal which lets him spend his life watching Stargate.
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They adapt so you have to keep switching the frequency in a pattern that can't be predicted. At some point they'll get so smart that you can't be saved without a last minute plot device.