Tendrils of synthesized proteinlike molecular "strands" are awaiting an interface to an appropriate cell or bio-material.

This becomes even more so the case when beginning to look into the "behavioral expectations" of pseudo-organism construction processes, such as in the case of quasi-viral components, so called "protein machines," and other potentially "organic" devices with self-replicatory, or xenomorphic assembly/reassembly characteristics.

Concepts such as self-assembling materials, self-modifying molecular structural systems, and even object-oriented organelle components which can be "re-assembled" into new, artificial organisms, are emerging from the wispy realms of science fiction, and into the new frontier of applied nanotechnology development. Consider, for instance, a new class of materials, as in ubiquitous "nanites" that can be stimulated by chemical, photonic, or even electrically induced event cues (or a combination thereof, as a logical lexicon) to form into functional macro-objects.

A molecular stream is descending into an amorphous "nanoblob" of ubiquitous gray goo material, awaiting its chemically induced instructions to morph into a new object.

The newly formed macro-object(s), which could even have organism-like properties, would perform a task or range of tasks, and then be "instructed" to dissolve back to its original status as a cloud of individual molecular scale nanites, until another event cue stimulus causes the nanites to reform into perhaps another type of macro-object.

Sound far fetched? That depends entirely on who is asked. Amongst a number of physicists and chemists who are currently engaged in the realm of self-assembling materials and molecular matrices, such terms as "utility fog," nanoputty, and nano-legos are actually used in everyday discussions.

Nano molecular components of different "species" types clustering to form a nanostructure for a particular purpose.

Indeed, in my own realm of work along these lines, I attempted to formulate an outline, or functional descriptor profile, that would describe how such interactive nano-components would perform in this domain, up to and including organelle types that would have the ability to achieve sentience as an "assembled" organism of a given total size and complexity. An abbreviated form of this outline is included below.

The basic premise here is to present some possible conceptual models of various nano components, and what their properties or interactions may consist of. This is, of course, entirely speculative, and is only intended to serve as a suggestive approximation of how such components and systems may evolve in a future "nano-world."

Clusters of quasi proteinlike molecules forming together as a structure.

Some behavioral characteristics and properties that might be established are as follows:

1. At the smallest nano scale, individual "nanite" subcomponents are free to be "adrift" in a virtual nano-realm. They may either have affinity for other nanites of the same "species," or have a certain symbiotic capacity for combining with other species of nanites.

2. The level of symbiosis that such nanite clusters may organize themselves in can either be of a basic range of cluster types, or could possibly arrange themselves in clusters of clusters, or "superclusters," somewhat like the specialized cells within organs, combining to form a complete complex "organism."

3. At some symbiotic complexity threshold point, the "essence" of sentience begins. The depth of sentience could certainly en- compass a realm of self-awareness on the part of the "nano- machine" organism, and a desire for self repair or replication.

4. Nanite subcomponents can be categorized by specialized task (range of tasks), environment, conditional extremes (survivability under duress), and interconnectivity to cross species type.

5. Nanite machine systems can either be confined to specific nano- or micro-scale self-contained "organisms," or can be the inner component systems of larger macro machines.

6. Special properties of macro machines could include the ability to "disassemble" at will, and re-assemble into new configurations as needed, or reconstruction "on the fly" of certain predesignated extremities within a defined range of capabilities.

7. Macro machines themselves may possess the ability to interconnect with each other to re-evolve as more complex macro machine systems, with the ability for nanite subcomponent reassembly of crucial interconnect sites at will, as such symbiosis occurs.

"Nanoblobs" of quasi "gray goo" molecular bloblets drifting about in a molecular stew environment.

In the realm of medical or bio-molecular subcomponent nano device applications, a variety of potential modalities are being considered. This can range from quasi-viral components that can target specific cell types and perform intra-cellular connective chemistry functions, to "nanobot" machine devices which patrol the blood stream in search of intrusive microbes, and/or other types of stationary or mobile antigen triggered response devices, to morphable organelle components, as in the example of a bio-molecular "utility fog" system which could be triggered into responding to a range of chemical signature signals to morph into a "temporary" organism type.

In all such examples, and for a range of potential "concept models" yet to be explored, there is no doubt that artificial life routines, or some hybridized variations thereof, will become part of the standard set of "tools" available to the research of both theoretical, and deployable nanotechnology development.

Copyright ©1993, Charles Ostman. All Rights Reserved. Printed with the author's permission.

Comments and queries to webmaster@nanothinc.com.