The broad implications of self-replicating systems, regardless of scale, are often similar. The economic impact of such systems is clear and dramatic. Things become cheap, and projects of sweeping scale can be considered and carried out in a reasonable time frame without undue expense. Finally, by considering the design of an artificial SRS in such detail, the NASA team showed clearly that such things are feasible. First, it could exist in a highly controlled environment, rather than the uncontrolled lunar surface.
Bacteria are able to synthesize any protein.
I Assembler would be able to synthesize a very much wider range of structures. Because it would have to manufacture its own control computer as a simple prerequisite to its own self-replication, it would revolutionize the computer industry almost automatically. By providing precise atomic control even the Mark I Assembler will revolutionize the manufacturing process. This page is part of the nanotechnology web site.