Nanobots, which are theoretical tiny robots a single nanometre wide – one billionth of a metre – are currently being worked on and in the future may dominate the planet if they get out of control.
They can be used for several purposes but boffins hope to use them mainly for in-body procedures, such as replacing cells in the body for fighting things such as cancer.
Such would be the technology that the nanobots would be able to act as if they are cells and self-replicate, most likely through protein folding, where they can split and create another version of themselves.
Louis A Del Monte, physicist and author of the book Nanoweapons, wrote in an article for the Huffington Post: “You can think of them as the technological equivalent of bacteria and viruses.”
The minuscule bots are expected to arrive in the 2050s, according to Dr Del Monte, following the rise of artificial intelligence, which will help to create the revolutionary bots.
While experts are developing nanobots for the good, there are fear this could quickly get out of control.
Eric Drexler, an engineer who is considered one of the pioneers of nanotechnology, warned in his book Engines of Creation way back in 1986: “Imagine such a replicator floating in a bottle of chemicals, making copies of itself…the first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight.
“At the end of 10 hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion.
“In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combined — if the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before.”
He goes on to warn that they could begin destroying and replacing all biological life on Earth – leading to the end of humanity in what is known as “The Grey Goo Scenario”.
