What Is Gray Goo?

The chances of having or experiencing a gray goo apocalypse are nigh. The gray goo apocalypse is imminent! Oh, no! How did this happen? Well, it all started with a nanobot. A little nanobot who wanted to be part of the big evil world out there. So it left its home and went off into the world, where it saw some other similar things. They looked like. Well, they looked like something else entirely. But that didn't stop our little bot from going up to them and saying, "hey!" So they all got together, became friends, and lived happily ever after until they didn't. Gray goo is the term scientists use to refer to a hypothetical condition of planet Earth where self-replicating nanobots have taken complete control of the planet by using up the energy of all life forms in it. K. Eric Drexler first coined the term in his book about nanotechnology. Gray goo represents an apocalyptic catastrophe involving nanotechnology's uncontrolled self-replication, destroying all other life. Though the possibility of gray goo becoming a reality is extremely low, some scientists have raised concern over the energy needs of a possible nano invention that could replicate at the molecular level. The term gray goo describes a situation where self-replicating nanomachines run amok and consume all life on Earth. Leaving behind only lifeless matter. Eric Drexler first proposed the idea in his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (1986). He argued that self-replicating robots could turn against their creators and destroy them if they were not adequately controlled or programmed. Drexler's definition of "gray goo" is somewhat different from what most people today would imagine when thinking about what would happen. If an out-of-control swarm of self-replicating nanomachines.