Recursive Factory

Why are we obsessed with going straight to the Nanometer-scale? Lets do it gradually.

The factory has initially one purpose: to replicate itself into a smaller size next to itself. Perhaps each time 50% smaller. This will be done in a flexible manner; the factory is a very extensive, elaborate and all encompassing tool shop, fitted with all the machines needed to replicate itself. Us humans are not inside the factory – we just deliver the raw material. To control all these machines we use remote control via the radio waves. To see what we need to see, we have cameras. The machines are similar to current types, like the lathe and the mill machine. But we also need a foundry, a rolling mill, etc, etc. Robots (incl. cleaning machines) will move any material from machine to machine.

Building the next (smaller) generation of the factory is not an identical clone of the one before, but is adjusted for the different size. The engineering requires different design because of scaling. (See link). Compare this with the fact that an ant can carry more than its own weight, but an elephant cannot. Air gets comparatively thicker.

I guess it will take some time to build the next factory. But the equipment already exists today on the 1:1 scale, so let’s start!

And then, finally… somewhere along, moving down the scale (with a factory of the size of a shoebox), we might find it handy to produce something else…like a machine that removes the wrinkles out of your clothes, so that you do not have to iron. And then when the factory is small enough, perhaps we can create a tiny tiny machine that cleans your zits (or cleans your nose). Our plants may also benefit from this: let’s build a miniature (not so) “natural” enemy of the lice, and with remote control and VR we let our youth control the machine and fight the “big” bastards.