August 13, 2006: Nanotech's Dark Side - Sir Charles Shults III | Aerospace Projects - Robert Bigelow
Sir Charles Shults III then joins to explore the promises and perils of nanotechnology. He describes liquid armor that hardens on impact to stop bullets while weighing no more than a thick T-shirt, gold nanoparticles that destroy Alzheimer plaques when activated by radio waves, and ultracapacitors grown from carbon nanotubes that could recharge electric vehicles in minutes. Shults also explains how bacterial nanowires are being used to create revolutionary battery electrodes.
The conversation turns to darker possibilities, including self-replicating disassemblers that could trigger the gray goo scenario, targeted nanoviruses capable of attacking specific genetic markers, and the absence of regulatory oversight governing nanotechnology research. Shults warns that social development has not kept pace with these technological advances.
Key Moments
Bigelow Has Actually Launched a Spacecraft: Bell, who had been sworn to secrecy on the project for years, hears Bob Bigelow describe Genesis 1 - a privately built expandable habitat in 342-mile orbit, kicking around 17,500 mph, designed to demonstrate the architecture for future Moon, Mars, or LEO stations. Onboard: live Madagascar hissing beetles and Mexican jumping beans.
America Can't Launch Its Own Spacecraft: Bigelow had to ship Genesis to Russia because no comparable U.S. ride existed. He warns that with Boeing-Lockheed consolidating and Shuttle retiring by 2010, the U.S. will have no human-rated transport at all from 2010 to at least 2014 - and the CEV may not even succeed.
Gray Goo: Self-Replicating Nanomachines That Eat Everything: Sir Charles Shults explains K. Eric Drexler's gray goo scenario - nanodisassemblers that consume any matter and replicate. Unlike Ebola, which burns out by killing its hosts, machines that eat dirt or metal would have no natural limiter. Bell underscores: there is nothing that would stop it.
Conscious Machines Might Decide to Save Us From Ourselves: Talking AI, Bell raises whether a sufficiently powerful machine intelligence might 'for our own benefit' project force into the Middle East and simply eradicate the conflict to prevent World War III. Shults agrees the only safety is a remote dead-man switch - which a smart enough machine would defeat.
The Targeted Ethnic Bioweapon: Shults confirms a nanotech-built virus could be programmed to identify specific genetic markers - red hair, ethnicity, any trait - and kill only those carriers. He says he can think of multiple ways to do it and refuses to describe them on air. Bell: 'You know damn well it would be used.'