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Q&A

Methods of containing/combating "grey goo" Von Neumann nanomachines?

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The grey goo end-of-the-world scenario in which lots of little microscopic Von Neumann self-replicating machines basically eat everything to make more of themselves. Eventually everything is grey goo.

Assuming that they are electro-mechanical, microscopic, have a method of destroying and recombining on the molecular/atomic level, will not consume each other, derive their energy from the chemical energy released by not using all the materials they consume, rather heat/pressure-resistant due to the conditions which would form in a massive of them, and are possibly linked via some kind of network, forming a hive mind, what methods of containment or destruction (Aside from never migrating from IPv6) would be effective against combating this threat?

How far would they have to spread before the only option is nuking from orbit? What if they are solar/geothermic, and require sunlight to continue operation, otherwise hibernating?

Naturally, there would be some locations where they would grow faster, due to the ease of getting energy from the materials. Wood and organic material would be rapidly consumed, while water would take a lot of time and have a high loss of material to getting energy (seriously, what's more stable than H2O?). Could this be exploited in defense against them?

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/453. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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