In most people’s sci-fi nightmares about robots trying to wipe out humanity, the robots tend to be big. But wouldn’t they be more deadly if they were tiny? 0.2-0.5 millimeters is bigger than bacteria or viruses, but it’s the size range of many single-cell protozoans.

That possibility is bad enough, but we’d better hope no one figures out how to make these things self-replicating. Think that sounds far-fetched? Evolution figured it out with single-cell organisms 2 billion years ago, and they haven’t faltered since.

World’s smallest programmable robots perform tasks: Microscale swimming bots developed by U-M and Penn take in sensory information, process it, and carry out tasks, opening new possibilities in manufacturing and medicine.

  • Lugh@futurology.todayOPMEnglish
    2·
    4 days ago

    I wasn’t thinking about the little robots figuring it out. I was thinking of humans designing it, and releasing it (perhaps accidentally).

    • PattyMcB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      4 days ago

      And look at the havoc that relatively simple but communal organisms can wreak (ants),

      Then there are bacteria, viruses, and other single-celled organisms.

      All one would need to do is replicate itself and produce a toxin.