Grey goo Information & Grey goo Links at HealthHaven.com

Part of a series of articles on; Molecular Nanotechnology;
	Mechanosynthesis; Molecular assembler; Molecular machine; Productive nanosystems; Nanorobotics; K. Eric Drexler; Engines of Creation;
	See also; Nanotechnology; v • d • e

Grey goo (alternatively spelled gray goo) is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves—a scenario known as ecophagy ("eating the environment").

The term grey goo is usually used in a science fiction context. In the worst postulated scenarios (requiring large, space-capable machines), matter beyond Earth would also be turned into goo (with goo meaning a large mass of replicating nanomachines lacking large-scale structure, which may or may not actually appear goo-like). The disaster is posited to result from a deliberate doomsday device, or from an accidental mutation in a self-replicating nanomachine used only for other purposes, but designed to operate in a natural environment.

Self-replicating machines of the macroscopic variety were originally described by mathematician John von Neumann, and are sometimes referred to as von Neumann machines. The term grey goo was coined by nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation.^[1]

[edit] References

^ Joseph, Lawrence E. (2007). Apocalypse 2012. New York: Broadway. p. 6. ISBN 978-0767924481.

[edit] Further reading

Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan—What Is Life? (1995). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81087-5
Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
Green Goo—Life in the Era of Humane Genocide by Nick Szabo
Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!
Green Goo: The New Nanothreat from Wired

[edit] External links

[0] Joseph, Lawrence E. (2007). Apocalypse 2012. New York: Broadway. p. 6. ISBN 978-0767924481.

[1]