A new molecule structure is able to control 8 nano-machines simultaneously by switching the states of the involved molecules. This chemical “brain” has been developed at the International Center for Young Scientists, Tsukuba, Japan, reports Engadget and BBC.

The scientists use 17 duroquinone molecules that could (one day) act as a central control for other nanobots and are themselves controlled via a scanning tunneling microscope. They have already built bigger machines capable of 256 simultaneous operations, but using these machines in a computer - while faster than a conventional pc - is very difficult at the moment because of the required scanning tunnel microscope.

Nanorobotics is, alongside artificial general intelligence, one of the most likely technologies to radically change the way human beings live and develop in the next decades, according to most futurologists. While many applications are very promising, especially when concerned with body-enhancing functions (longevity, intelligence boosters), some people believe that these robots may run out of control and, for example, replicate uncontrollably and devour every living organism on earth (grey goo scenario). I am still undecided which variant I find more likely, I haven’t read enough material on nanorobotics yet. At first sight, the grey goo scenario seems less likely to happen than the evil AI scenario, because replication appears to be a very complicated and sensitive process to me.

However, assuming nanobots become reality, they will affect the creation of strong AI: If they are used to improve the IQ of researchers, say by suppressing the need for sleep or increasing the brain capacity, the AI development will accelerate. On the other hand, if everything is turned into goo, obviously there will be no AI that enslaves human beings (other than swarm AI maybe). The impact on the probability of an evil AI thus depends on how likely the different nanorobotics scenarios are.

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