Green Goo (Republished) - by Metacelsus - De Novo

Note: I originally published this post in July 2022, but I removed it after being asked to do so by biosecurity experts who viewed it as an infohazard. However, recent discussions in the biosecurity field have resulted in a new consensus that it’s better to talk about this issue openly, so I am re-publishing this post. For further reading I recommend this perspective article, published today in Science, as well as a companion piece in Asimov Press. The nanotechnologist Eric Drexler popularized the term “gray goo” to refer to self-replicating nanobots that go out of control and digest everything to make more copies of themselves. But it turns out we already have self-replicating nanobots: they’re just called cells. Around 49 million years ago, the Earth was a greenhouse, atmospheric CO2 was ~3500 ppm, and the Arctic Ocean was a freshwater lake. Then something interesting happened. Aquatic duckweed-like ferns of the genus Azolla thrived in the Artic Ocean, creating massive blooms and seq

Note: I originally published this post in July 2022, but I removed it after being asked to do so by biosecurity experts who viewed it as an infohazard. However, recent discussions in the biosecurity field have resulted in a new consensus that it’s better to talk about this issue openly, so I am re-publishing this post. For further reading I recommend this perspective article, published today in Science, as well as a companion piece in Asimov Press. The nanotechnologist Eric Drexler popularized the term “gray goo” to refer to self-replicating nanobots that go out of control and digest everythin