Concise Introduction to Programmable Self-Sufficient, Self-Replicating Molecular Nanotechnology

Imagine we could design a programmable robotic factory in such a way that it itself could be put together by a similar robotic factory. Imagine that this factory can also make solar panels, and also robots that could gather the materials that the factory would use from the environment. Then we have a programmable, self-sufficient, self-replicating factory: it can supply itself with the necessary energy and materials to make copies of itself and ultimately produce what we want it to produce. Capital equipment can increase at a geometric rate, with a relatively short generation time. This means that our productive capabilities can quickly scale to any size task, and production costs fall steeply. By definition, such a system could produce photovoltaic cells at extremely low cost, providing cheap and sustainable energy. By using this infrastructure to build machines that capture excess carbon from the atmosphere, it becomes feasible to reverse global warming in a relatively short time...and we could also use that carbon as a raw material to produce things that we need.

Imagine further that this factory can be built at the tiniest scale, so that instead of assembling visible parts, it builds products from individual atoms or molecules, with atomic-scale precision (think of this as the ultimate in 3-D printing, with a broad range of materials). Then this type of system can produce faster, denser and more efficient electronics and computers than we have today. It can efficiently produce filters for desalination to provide enough pure water for everyone. It can also produce nanorobots, which could do things like repair cells and tissues, stop cancer cells from dividing, detect and kill viruses and bacteria and other pathogens infecting humans, animals or plants, and clean up pollution. Robotic systems for agriculture and aquaculture would become inexpensive and could end food scarcity using sustainable methods. Everything we make or build could be produced more efficiently, at lower costs, sustainably, with precision, and it would become completely practical to produce things that aren't presently possible.

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In various forms, the basic ideas of doing important parts of this have been put forward several times going back many decades. Our focus is to make the highly useful combination laid out above viable, sooner rather than later, so that we can meet both longstanding challenges facing us as well as emerging threats. We have specifically avoided ​accepting funding from public sources and investments requiring profit maximization in order to retain full control of this work and ensure that neither profit motive nor political agendas interfere with the appropriate development and use of this revolutionary technology….We pursue this with only resources that permit us to make sure that this work benefits the planet and humanity, and also to be in a position to guide its development to avoid the risks that might otherwise arise; while there are many opportunities to profit, we will never put profits ahead of those aims.

In order to make certain this technology solves problems rather than creating them, stringent safety measures and policies will be adopted.

AI will not
lead the singularity.
We will.