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Sotamiro t1_irsetz1 wrote

Reply to comment by Sashinii in When will average office jobs start disappearing? by pradej

Could you elaborate on the link between nanofactories and people's independence?

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Sashinii t1_irsgiyi wrote

The nanofactory will be capable of rearranging atoms in any way permitted by the laws of physics, and all that's required to run the machine will be air, dirt, and water, so the moment the nanofactory is created, post-scarcity emerges.

You might think that such powerful technology will only be available to the rich, but every nanofactory will be able to created another nanofactory, ad infinitum, meaning that there will be no way for corporations to stop everyone from having their own nanofactory.

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GondolaSnaps t1_irslqbd wrote

Isn’t it world ending if everyone has a printer that can instantly create horrific weapons? Or is that balanced out by everyone having one?

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Cult_of_Chad t1_irx75s2 wrote

Yes. You'll have to sacrifice your privacy or live on the frontier away from the core of civilization if you want personal use of this tech.

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broadenandbuild t1_iru1fc3 wrote

What makes you think nanofactories like the ones you speak of are even possible? You’re essentially talking alchemy. Is there any indication of this happening now?

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purple_hamster66 t1_irt6jm0 wrote

Isn’t this what pharmaceutical companies do, rearrange atoms? And bakeries? And chip manufacturers? Isn’t this already happening, but in safe and tested ways that are highly reproducible?

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Sashinii t1_irt7pd2 wrote

There's no molecular manufacturing happening now.

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earthsworld t1_irsmbo0 wrote

lol, do you seriously believe that a multi-trillion dollar tech won't be patented? And you do realize that self-replicating nanobots could wipe out the planet in a matter of minutes? So your brilliant idea is that everyone should have one?

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phriot t1_irsq3li wrote

Patents typically have expiration dates. Even then, parents only stop you from commercializing something, not making it. If such a nanofactory were to exist, DRM would go further in preventing people from making their own than a patent would. Like, it could in theory make anything, but it's locked down to not make weapons or copies of itself.

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earthsworld t1_irsri29 wrote

and with ML/AI able to crack just about anything, how long do you imagine it would stay "locked down" for?

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phriot t1_irss5v2 wrote

I figure that by the time any of this is real, we'd have quantum-resistant cryptography.

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