Safe exponential manufacturing

Abstract

In 1959, Richard Feynman pointed out that nanometre-scale machines could be built andoperated, and that the precision inherent in molecular construction would make it easy tobuild multiple identical copies. This raised the possibility of exponential manufacturing, inwhich production systems could rapidly and cheaply increase their productive capacity,which in turn suggested the possibility of destructive runaway self-replication. Earlyproposals for artificial nanomachinery focused on small self-replicating machines, discussingtheir potential productivity and their potential destructiveness if abused. In the light ofcontroversy regarding scenarios based on runaway replication (so-called ‘grey goo’), areview of current thinking regarding nanotechnology-based manufacturing is in order.Nanotechnology-based fabrication can be thoroughly non-biological and inherentlysafe: such systems need have no ability to move about, use natural resources,or undergo incremental mutation. Moreover, self-replication is unnecessary: thedevelopment and use of highly productive systems of nanomachinery (nanofactories)need not involve the construction of autonomous self-replicating nanomachines.Accordingly, the construction of anything resembling a dangerous self-replicatingnanomachine can and should be prohibited. Although advanced nanotechnologies could(with great difficulty and little incentive) be used to build such devices, other concernspresent greater problems. Since weapon systems will be both easier to build and more likelyto draw investment, the potential for dangerous systems is best considered in the context ofmilitary competition and arms control.