Nanites

[SolidSamurai]

There's this one person I read about in a magazine/newspaper article (I can't remember the name, I gotta find it), who's roughly 60 years old and has explained that he intends to live until nanobots are invented (he optimistically claims 30 years max) so that he may live for another some odd 200 years.

But how will nanites effect the world as a whole when they are invented? Will the breakthrough in technology make more money than the cure for cancer?
When will nanites be mass marketed internationally like computers or television? 30 years? 50 years? 80 years?

How will they effect society? How will they effect us as individuals? I personally imagine injecting myself with a nanite needle that I ordered online, only to wake up a week later with an extra 350 pounds of muscle. :D

It'd be healthier than steroids after all (if it worked).

Any opinions?

[mranderson]

First all you'd have to think of the astronomical cost for them to develop it. Then don't forget supply, and demand. The first people to invent nanites, and patent nanites will own the world. They can demand an astronomical sum for their business, and most likely will be selling to governments. You are going to hit brick walls all over the place in producing a consumer friendly nanite that doesn't cost over a billion dollars to buy. It's kind of like someone taking a jet to work because it's faster....

Plus don't forget government regulations, and how people would feel about something artificially altering someone. And I doubt the government would inject soldiers (the basic foot soldier) with nanites if it wasn't cost effective. But of course it will make more money than cancer treaments will.

I'm actually interested in what you think nanites can do though? Or have you seen that episode of stargate atlantis too? (That's as far as my knowledge goes without imagination. I'll wiki it later)

[SolidSamurai]

If by government spending on nanties, you mean exportation. It'll be corporate like everything else; computers, tvs... billion dollar, if not trillion dollar industries.

The military has been known to spend millions on infantry modules such as new armor, etc. Businesses have spent countless dollars on hand held weapons models only to have 95% of them scrapped. Much of these weapons have made it commercially however. If nanites drastically altered infantry, then the government would pool everything into them, because they have seperate spending indexes that they have to keep track of.

If the first nanites were introduced, they'd most definitely be introduced commercially and then the military would decide to purchase either the same project or offer a grant for streamlined production of higher quality products.

I always thought nanites would mostly be commercial and pharmaceutical. It'd be kinda like the cure for cancer. It'd explode if everyone's hyped about it. I'm thinking with all the transformations pop culture is undergoing, we may be accepting of nanites 30 years in the future. Or 80 years. I'm thinking there'd have to be a lot of research, both biological, biochemical, programming, etc. Taking into consideration the blood type of a person. Also imagine how many different nanites would be required to match individual cells. So much could go wrong.

Also, SG's pretty cheesey. :P

But no, haven't seen that episode.