 a clanking replicator is an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation. the term evolved to distinguish such systems from the microscopic "assemblers" that nanotechnology may make possible. they are also sometimes called "auxons", from the greek word auxein which means "to grow", or "von neumann machines" after john von neumann, who first rigorously studied the idea. this last term ("von neumann machine") is less specific and also refers to a completely unrelated computer architecture proposed by von neumann, so its use is discouraged where accuracy is important. a related concept is the von neumann universal constructor. the term clanking replicator was used by drexler, is informal and is rarely used by others in popular or technical discussions. ==basic concept== a self-replicating machine would need to have the capacity to gather energy and raw materials, process the raw materials into finished components, and then assemble them into a copy of itself. it is unlikely that this would all be contained within a single monolithic structure, but would rather be a group of cooperating machines or an automated factory that is capable of manufacturing all of the machines that make it up. the factory could produce mining robots to collect raw materials, construction robots to put new machines together, and repair robots to maintain itself against wear and tear, all without human intervention or direction. the advantage of such a system lies in its ability to expand its own capacity rapidly and without additional human effort; in essence, the initial investment required to construct the first clanking replicator would have an arbitrarily large payoff with no additional labor cost, with future returns discounted by their present value. such a machine violates no physical laws, and we already possess the basic technologies necessary for some of the more detailed proposed designs. noting another proof that self-replicating machines are possible is the simple fact that all living organisms are self replicating by definition. ==history of the concept== the idea of non-biological self-replicating systems was introduced in samuel butler's article "darwin among the machines" published only a few years after the origin of species. as a serious proposal, it was first suggested by mathematician john von neumann in the late 1940s when he proposed a kinematic self-reproducing
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