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Mission (Verwaltungseinheit der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der letzten Tage)

2006-12-08T16:52:51Z

Ethicalhacker: /* South America */

{{essay-entry}}
[[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] is well known for their efforts to contact the public through proselyting activities. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use the word '''mission''' in relation to these activities. It has 2 related yet distinct meanings.

* the administrative area, often based on a geographic region, to which missionaries are assigned.
* a proselyting or service assignment of limited duration fulfilled by individuals or married couples acting as LDS [[Mormon missionary|missionaries]].

This article deals with the former, and all references to "missionary" specifically refer to a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

== Administrative structure ==
Geographically, a mission may be a city, a city and surrounding areas, a state, or perhaps an entire country or multiple countries. Essentially, all parts of the world where missionaries are permitted to serve are divided into missions. In addition, there are a number of "special missions," generally within the area of a regular mission, which are designated for a specific purpose such as service to the homeless. Special missions have their own Presidencies (see below), separate from that of the larger missions in whose territory they are formed.

The mission with the smallest geographic area is the Salt Lake [[Temple Square]] Mission, in which "sister" missionaries from around the world serve as tourguides, often to visitors from their own homelands. These sisters will serve approximately 6 months on Temple Square, then serve "in the field" for 6 months in another mission in another part of the United States, then return to Temple Square for the final 6 months of their 18-month mission call.

Typically the name of the mission is the name of the country (or state in the United States), and then the city (usually a large city) where the mission headquarters office is located.

===Mission President===
All missionaries serve in a ''mission'' under the direction of a [[Mission president]], who, like individual missionaries, is assigned by the [[First Presidency|President of the Church]]. He is a High Priest in the [[Melchizedek Priesthood]]. His wife serves alongside him. He is typically middle age or older. Like the missionaries, he is most likely not from the area he is serving, and may not even be from the same country, or be a native speaker of the language.

The Mission President has at least two counselors, who sometimes are from the local area and who keep their regular employment. The role of the counselors varies by mission, but they are typically liasions between the mission and the stakes.

===Mission Organization===
A mission may be organized two different ways, depending on the situation. The first is the organization of the missionaries. There are two or more missionaries who serve as "Assistants to the President" (not to be confused with the counselors in the mission presidency). They carry out the direction of the Mission President in the organization of the mission, the assigning of companions and proselyting areas, and oversee the welfare and training of the missionaries. The missionaries are divided into zones, each led by a missionary assigned as a zone leader. The zones may be geographically large or small depending on the mission. The zones are divided into districts, each being led by a missionary assigned as a district leader. A district usually has two to four missionary companionships. The zone leaders and district leaders train the missionaries, see after their welfare, conduct interviews, proselyte together, and share successes.

Each missionary companionship has a geographical area which may include part of a [[Ward (Mormonism)|ward]] or [[Branch (Mormonism)|branch]], one ward or branch, or several wards or branches. They are reponsible for preaching to the people in their own area.

The other type of mission organization exists where there are no organized church [[Stake (Mormonism)|stakes]]. This may be case where the church is relatively new and there are few members. The mission president is the presiding church authority in such areas, and he is responsible for all the members, not just the missionaries. The mission is divided into districts (not to be confused with the other type of district) which serve much the same role as stakes do. Each district has a District President and his counselors who are usually local residents and report directly to the mission presidency. The districts are composed of branches. In these cases the Mission President oversees all the affairs of the church in the mission. After the membership has grown typically the districts are turned into stakes and the stake presidents do not report to the mission president. The Mission President is then only responsible for the proselyting missionaries.

==Mission Reunions==
Many missionaries working together build strong bonds of friendship, and for a few years after their missions are over, a former mission president will host reunions of missionaries who served with him. As the missionaries come from many different parts of the world, it is common that the reunions are held in Utah, especially during [[General conference (Mormonism)|general conference]] weekends, as it provides for the probability of the largest number of attendees. Several web sites have been created by church members with the express purpose of allowing mission alumni to keep in contact, one of the most notable being the [[LDS Mission Network]][http://www.mission.net/].

==List of Missions==
{{Cleanup-list|December 2006}}
These are the names of the missions. Their actual area of responsibility may be much larger than the name may indicate. As the LDS Church does not maintain official Websites for its missions (as opposed to individual wards and stakes), external links are to unofficial alumni sites.

{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=3 |
===United States===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Alabama Birmingham Mission
*Alaska Anchorage Mission
*Arizona Mesa Mission
*Arizona Phoenix Mission
*Arizona Tempe Mission
*Arizona Tucson Mission
*Arkansas Little Rock Mission
*California Anaheim Mission
*California Arcadia Mission
*California Carlsbad Mission
*California Fresno Mission
*California Long Beach Mission
*California Los Angeles Mission
*California Oakland Mission
*California Riverside Mission
*California Roseville Mission
*California Sacramento Mission
*California San Bernardino Mission
*California San Diego Mission
*California San Fernando Mission
*California San Francisco Mission
*California San Jose Mission
*California Santa Rosa Mission
*California Ventura Mission
*Colorado Denver North Mission
*Colorado Denver South Mission
*Colorado Colorado Springs Mission
*Florida Ft Lauderdale Mission
*Florida Jacksonville Mission
*Florida Orlando Mission
*Florida Tallahassee Mission
*Florida Tampa Mission
*Georgia Atlanta Mission
*Georgia Atlanta North Mission
*Georgia Macon Mission
*Hawaii Honolulu Mission
*Idaho Boise Mission
| valign="top" |
*Idaho Pocatello Mission
*Illinois Chicago Mission
*Illinois Chicago North Mission
*Illinois Nauvoo Mission
*Illinois Peoria Mission
*Indianapolis Indiana Mission
*Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission
*Maryland Baltimore Mission
*Massachusetts Boston Mission
*Michigan Detroit Mission
*Michigan Lansing Mission
*Minnesota Minneapolis Mission
*Mississippi Jackson Mission
*Missouri Independence Mission
*Missouri St. Louis Mission
*Montana Billings Mission
*Nebraska Omaha Mission
*Nevada Las Vegas Mission
*Nevada Las Vegas West Mission
*New Hampshire Manchester Mission
*New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission
*New Jersey Morristown Mission
*New Mexico Albuquerque Mission
*New York New York North Mission
*New York New York South Mission
*New York Rochester Mission
*New York Utica Mission
*North Carolina Charlotte Mission
*North Carolina Raleigh Mission
*Ohio Cincinnati Mission
*Ohio Cleveland Mission
*Ohio Columbus Mission
*Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission
*Oklahoma Tulsa Mission
| valign="top" |
*Oregon Eugene Mission
*Oregon Portland Mission
*Pennsylvania Harrisburg Mission
*Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission
*Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission
*Puerto Rico San Juan Mission
*South Carolina Columbia Mission
*South Dakota Rapid City Mission
*Tennessee Knoxville Mission
*Tennessee Nashville Mission
*Texas Dallas Mission
*Texas Fort Worth Mission
*Texas Houston Mission
*Texas Houston East Mission
*Texas Houston South Mission
*Texas Lubbock Mission
*Texas McAllen Mission
*Texas San Antonio Mission
*Utah Ogden Mission
*Utah Provo Mission
*Utah Salt Lake City Mission
*Utah Salt Lake City South Mission
*Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission
*Virginia Richmond Mission
*Washington D.C. North Mission
*Washington D.C. South Mission
*Washington Everett Mission
*Washington Kennewick Mission
*Washington Seattle Mission
*Washington Spokane Mission
*Washington Tacoma Mission
*West Virginia Charleston Mission
*Wisconsin Milwaukee Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Canada===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Canada Calgary Mission
*Canada Edmonton Mission
*Canada Halifax Mission
*Canada Montreal Mission
|
*Canada Toronto East Mission
*Canada Toronto West Mission
*Canada Vancouver Mission
*Canada Winnipeg Mission
|
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Mexico===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Mexico Chihuahua Mission
*Mexico Culiacan Mission
*Mexico Guadalajara Mission
*Mexico Guadalajara South Mission
*Mexico Hermosillo Mission
*Mexico Leon Mission
*Mexico Merida Mission
| valign="top" |
*Mexico Mexico City East Mission
*Mexico Mexico City North Mission
*Mexico Mexico City South Mission
*Mexico Mexico City West Mission
*Mexico Monterrey East Mission
*Mexico Monterrey West Mission
| valign="top" |
*Mexico Oaxaca Mission
*Mexico Puebla Mission
*Mexico Tijuana Mission
*Mexico Torreon Mission
*Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission
*Mexico Veracruz Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Central America and The Caribbean===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Costa Rica San Jose Mission
*Dominican Republic Santiago Mission
*Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission
*Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission
*El Salvador San Salvador East Mission
*El Salvador San Salvador West Mission
| valign="top" |
*Guatemala Guatemala City Central Mission
*Guatemala Guatemala City North Mission
*Guatemala Guatemala City South Mission
*Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission
*Haiti Port-Au-Prince Mission
*Honduras Comayaguela Mission
| valign="top" |
*Honduras San Pedro Sula Mission
*Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission
*Jamaica Kingston Mission
*Nicaragua Managua Mission
*Panama Panama City Mission
*West Indies Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===South America===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Argentina Bahia Blanca Mission
*Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission
*Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission
*Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission
*Argentina Cordoba Mission
*Argentina Mendoza Mission
*Argentina Neuquen Mission
*Argentina Resistencia Mission
*Argentina Rosario Mission
*Argentina Salta Mission
*Bolivia Cochabamba Mission
*Bolivia La Paz Mission
*Bolivia Santa Cruz Mission
*Brazil Belém Mission
*Brazil Belo Horizonte Mission
*Brazil Belo Horizonte East Mission
*Brazil Brasília Mission
*Brazil Campinas Mission
*Brazil Cuiaba Mission
*Brazil Curitiba Mission
*Brazil Florianópolis Mission
*Brazil Fortaleza Mission
*Brazil Goiânia Mission
*Brazil João Pessoa Mission
*Brazil Londrina Mission
| valign="top" |
*Brazil Maceió Mission
*Brazil Manaus Mission
*Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission
*Brazil Porto Alegre South Mission
*Brazil Recife Mission
*Brazil Ribeirão Preto Mission
*Brazil Rio De Janeiro Mission
*Brazil Rio De Janeiro North Mission
*Brazil Salvador Mission
*Brazil Salvador South Mission
*Brazil Santa Maria Mission
*Brazil São Paulo East Mission
*Brazil São Paulo Interlagos Mission
*Brazil São Paulo North Mission
*Brazil São Paulo South Mission
*Chile Antofagasta Mission
*Chile Concepcion Mission
*Chile Concepcion South Mission
*Chile Osorno Mission
*Chile Rancagua Mission
*Chile Santiago East Mission
*Chile Santiago North Mission
*Chile Santiago West Mission
*Chile Vina Del Mar Mission
| valign="top" |
*[[Colombia Barranquilla Mission]]
*Colombia Bogota North Mission
*Colombia Bogota South Mission
*Colombia Cali Mission
*Ecuador Guayaquil North Mission
*Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission
*Ecuador Quito Mission
*Paraguay Asuncion Mission
*Paraguay Asuncion North Mission
*Peru Arequipa Mission
*Peru Chiclayo Mission
*Peru Lima Central Mission
*Peru Lima East Mission
*Peru Lima North Mission
*Peru Lima South Mission
*Peru Trujillo Mission
*Uruguay Montevideo Mission
*Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
*Venezuela Barcelona Mission
*Venezuela Caracas Mission
*Venezuela Maracaibo Mission
*Venezuela Valencia Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Europe and Russia===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Albania Tirana Mission
*Armenia Yerevan Mission
*Baltic Mission
*Belgium Brussels Mission
*Bulgaria Sofia Mission
*Czech Prague Mission
*Czech Republic Prague Mission
*Denmark Copenhagen Mission
*England Birmingham Mission
*England Leeds Mission
*England London Mission
*England London South Mission
*England Manchester Mission
*Finland Helsinki Mission
*France Paris Mission
*France Toulouse Mission
*Germany Berlin Mission
*Germany Frankfurt Mission
*Germany Hamburg Mission
| valign="top" |
*Germany Leipzig Mission
*Germany Munich Mission
*Greece Athens Mission
*Hungary Budapest Mission
*Ireland Dublin Mission
*Italy Catania Mission
*Italy Milan Mission
*Italy Rome Mission
*Norway Oslo Mission
*Poland Warsaw Mission
*Portugal Lisbon Mission
*Portugal Porto Mission
*Romania Bucharest Mission
*Russia Moscow Mission
*Russia Moscow West Mission
*Russia Novosibirsk Mission
| valign="top" |
*Russia Rostov Mission
*Russia Saint Petersburg Mission
*Russia Samara Mission
*Russia Vladivostok Mission
*Russia Yekaterinburg Mission
*Scotland Edinburgh Mission
*Slovenia Ljubljana Mission
*Spain Barcelona Mission
*Spain Bilbao Mission
*Spain Las Palmas Mission
*Spain Madrid Mission
*Spain Malaga Mission
*Sweden Stockholm Mission
*Switzerland Geneva Mission
*Switzerland Zürich Mission
*Ukraine Donetsk Mission
*Ukraine Kiev Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Africa===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Cape Verde Praia Mission
*Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission
*Ghana Accra Mission
*Ghana Cape Coast Mission
*Ivory Coast Abidjan Mission
*Kenya Nairobi Mission
| valign="top" |
*Madagascar Antananarivo Mission
*Mozambique Maputo Mission
*Nigeria Enugu Mission
*Nigeria Ibadan Mission
*Nigeria Lagos Mission
*Nigeria Port Harcourt Mission
| valign="top" |
*Nigeria Uyo Mission
*South Africa Cape Town Mission
*South Africa Durban Mission
*South Africa Johannesburg Mission
*Uganda Kampala Mission
*Zimbabwe Harare Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |
===Asia===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission
*China Hong Kong Mission
*India Bangalore Mission
*Indonesia Jakarta Mission
*Japan Fukuoka Mission
*Japan Hiroshima Mission
*Japan Nagoya Mission
*Japan Sapporo Mission
*Japan Sendai Mission
*Japan Tokyo North Mission
*Japan Tokyo South Mission
*Korea Pusan Mission
| valign="top" |
*Korea Seoul Mission
*Korea Seoul West Mission
*Korea Taejon Mission
*Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission
*Philippines Angeles Mission
*Philippines Bacolod Mission
*Philippines Baguio Mission
*Philippines Cagayan De Oro Mission
*Philippines Cebu Mission
*Philippines Davao Mission
*Philippines Ilagan Mission
*Philippines Laoag Mission
| valign="top" |
*Philippines Manila Mission
*Philippines Naga Mission
*Philippines Olongapo Mission
*Philippines Quezon City
*Philippines San Pablo Mission
*Philippines Tacloban Mission
*Singapore Mission
*Taiwan Kaohsiung Mission
*Taiwan Taichung Mission
*Taiwan Taipei Mission
*Thailand Bangkok Mission
|-
! colspan=3 |

===Pacific===
|-
| valign="top" |
*Australia Adelaide Mission
*Australia Brisbane Mission
*Australia Melbourne Mission
*Australia Melbourne West Mission
*Australia Perth Mission
| valign="top" |
*Australia Sydney North Mission
*Australia Sydney South Mission
*Fiji Suva Mission
*Marshall Islands, Majuro Mission
*Micronesia Guam Mission
*New Zealand Auckland Mission
| valign="top" |
*New Zealand Wellington Mission
*Papua New Guinea Port Moresby Mission
*Samoa Apia Mission
*Tahiti Papeete Mission
*Tonga Nukualofa Mission
|}

== References ==
* ----. ''2001-2002 Deseret News Church Almanac'' (2000). Salt Lake City: Deseret News.

== External Links ==
* [http://www.mission.net/ mission.net] - list of mission websites

[[Category:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]

Graue Schmiere

2006-11-22T18:36:45Z

Ethicalhacker: /* Definition of grey goo */ - added information on growth rate geometric vs exponential

{{TOCright}}
'''''Grey goo''''' refers to a hypothetical [[End of civilization|end-of-the-world]] (or possibly end of universe) scenario involving [[molecular nanotechnology]] in which out-of-control [[self replication|self-replicating]] robots consume all living matter on [[Earth]] while building more of themselves (a scenario known as [[ecophagy]]).

The term is usually used in a [[science fiction]] context. In a worst-case scenario, all of the matter in the [[universe]] could be turned into goo (with "goo" meaning a large mass of replicating nanomachines lacking large-scale structure, which may or may not actually appear [[goo]]-like), killing the universe's inhabitants. The disaster is posited to result from an accidental [[mutation]] in a self-replicating nanomachine used for other purposes, or possibly from a deliberate [[doomsday device]].

==Definition of grey goo==
The term was first used by molecular nanotechnology pioneer [[Eric Drexler]] in his book ''[[Engines of Creation (book)|Engines of Creation]]'' (1986). In Chapter 4, ''Engines Of Abundance'', Drexler explores a scary scenario of [[exponential growth]] with such [[assembler (nanotechnology)|assemblers]]:

:"Thus the first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion. In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combined - if the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before."

Drexler describes grey goo in Chapter 11 ''Engines Of Destruction'':

:"...early assembler-based replicators could beat the most advanced modern organisms. 'Plants' with 'leaves' no more efficient than today's solar cells could out-compete real plants, crowding the biosphere with an inedible foliage. Tough, omnivorous 'bacteria' could out-compete real bacteria: they could spread like blowing pollen, replicate swiftly, and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days. Dangerous replicators could easily be too tough, small, and rapidly spreading to stop - at least if we made no preparation. We have trouble enough controlling viruses and fruit flies."

An important consideration Drexler alludes to is that the availability of raw materials would regulate this self-replicating trend. The acceleration of gray goo is most likely to be geometric as most replicators will quickly exhaust available raw materials. Although the growth is not truely exponential, it is worth noting that geometric growth is fast to warrent concern.

It is also worth noting that grey goo need not be grey or gooey. They could be like, for all purposes, a [[plant]] or [[bacteria]]. It is only the result of their ecophagy that would resemble grey goo.

==Other varieties==

Grey goo has several whimsical cousins, differentiated by the varied reasons for them and by their allocated colors. Most of these are not as commonly referred to as grey goo, however, and the definitions are informal:
* ''Golden Goo'' is the backfiring of a get-rich-quick scheme to assemble gold or other economically valuable substance.
* ''Black Goo'' is goo that has been designed to carry a plague and intentionally unleashed into a populated area.
* ''Red Goo'' is goo unleashed intentionally by [[terrorism|terrorists]], a doomsday weapon, or a private individual who wishes to commit [[suicide]] with a bang.
* ''Khaki Goo'' is goo intended by the military to wipe out somebody else's continent, planet, etc.
* ''Blue Goo'' is goo deliberately released in order to stop some other type of grey goo. It might well be the only solution to such a disaster, and would hopefully be better controlled than the original goo.
* ''Pink Goo'' is a tongue-in-cheek alias for [[humanity]], as the human species as a whole could be characterized as relentlessly self-propogating, planet-consuming, and potentially interstellar in scope. This metaphor has often but not exclusively been used to characterize human space expansion as a catastrophe, opening up the possibility of an entire galaxy or universe ultimately 'digested' by Pink Goo, perhaps at the expense of previous, less gregarious inhabitants.
* ''Green Goo'' is goo deliberately released, for example by [[ecoterrorist]]s, in order to stop the spread of Pink Goo, either by sterilization or simply by digesting the pink goo. Some form of this, along with an antidote available to the selected few, has been suggested as a strategy for achieving [[zero population growth]]. The term originates from the science fiction classic, <cite>[[Soylent Green]]</cite>.

==Living goo==
One convenient analogy for the grey goo problem is to consider bacteria as the most perfect example of biological nanotechnology. As they have not reduced the world to '''living goo''', some consider it unlikely that some artificial construct will manage to do so with grey goo.

Even so, some people argue that living goo, or even a combination of [[nanotechnology]] and [[biotechnology]] to create organic [[replicators]], is a more realistic threat than grey goo. Arguing that bacteria are [[ubiquitous]] and extraordinarily powerful, [[Bill Bryson]] (2003) says that the Earth is "their planet" and that we only exist on it because "they allow us to". Margulis and Sagan (1995) go further, arguing that all organisms, having descended from bacteria, ''are'' in a sense bacteria. Many kinds of bacteria are in fact essential for human life and are found in large quantities in the human digestive tract, in a [[symbiotic relationship]].

Thus a living goo could be a [[multicellular organism]] that obtains its raw materials to grow through ecophagy, and then grows through a process of [[exponential assembly]] such as [[cell division]].

==Risks and precautions==
It is unclear whether the molecular nanotechnology would be capable of creating grey goo at all. Among other common refutations, theorists suggest that the very size of [[nanoparticles]] inhibits them from moving very quickly. While the biological matter that composes life releases significant amounts of [[energy]] when [[oxidisation|oxidised]], and other sources of energy such as sunlight are available, this energy might not be sufficient for the putative nanorobots to out-compete existing organic [[life]] that already uses those resources, especially considering how much energy nanorobots would use for locomotion. If the nanomachine was itself composed of [[organic molecule]]s, then it might even find itself being preyed upon by preexisting bacteria and other natural life forms.

If nanorobots were built of [[inorganic]] compounds or made much use of elements that are not generally found in living matter, then they would need to use much of their metabolic output for fighting [[entropy]] as they purified (reduce sand to silicon, for instance) and synthesized the necessary building blocks. There would be little chemical energy available from inorganic matter such as rocks because, aside from a few exceptions ([[coal]], for example) it is mostly well-oxidized and sitting in a [[Free energy|free-energy]] minimum.

Assuming a molecular nanotechnological [[replicator]] were capable of causing a grey goo disaster, safety precautions might include programming them to stop reproducing after a certain number of [[generation]]s (but, see [[cancer]]), designing them to require a rare material that would be sprayed on the construction site before their release, or requiring constant direct control from an external computer. Another possibility is to [[encrypt]] the memory of the replicators in such a way that any changed copy is overwhelmingly likely to [[decrypt]] to non-functioning static.

In [[Britain]], the [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince of Wales]] called upon the [[Royal Society]] to investigate the "enormous environmental and social risks" of nanotechnology in a planned report, leading to much delighted media commentary on grey goo. The Royal Society's report on nanoscience was released on [[29 July]] [[2004]].

Recently, new analysis has shown that the danger of grey goo is far less likely than originally thought.<ref>{{cite press release| url=http://www.crnano.org/PR-IOP.htm| date=June 9, 2004| title=Leading nanotech experts put 'grey goo' in perspective| publisher=Center for Responsible Nanotechnology| accessdate=2006-06-17}}</ref> However, other long-term major risks to society and the environment from nanotechnology have been identified.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.crnano.org/dangers.htm| title= Current Results of Our Research| publisher=Center for Responsible Nanotechnology| accessdate=2006-06-17}}</ref> Drexler has made a somewhat public effort to retract his grey goo hypothesis, in an effort to focus the debate on more realistic threats associated with knowledge-enabled nanoterrorism and other misuses.

==Famous quotes==
* "We cannot afford certain types of accidents", Eric Drexler, [[Engines of creation]], [[1986]]
* "I wish I had never used the term 'grey goo'", Eric Drexler, [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] [[10 June]] [[2004]]

==Fictional depictions==
{{spoiler}}
===In books===
*"[[Autofac]]" is a 1955 science fiction short story by [[Philip K. Dick]] that features one of the earliest treatments of self-replicating machines.

*In [[Stanisław Lem]]'s ''Ciemność i Plesń'' (''Darkness and Mildew''), 1959, spores of an engineered lifeform that can use nuclear energy escape the lab. In order for the spores to activate, they need to be in the dark and near a rare species of mildew (hence the title), after which they grow exponentially.

*In [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[The Andromeda Strain]]'' (1969), also made into a movie, a rapidly evolving virus/prion-like chemical consumes many types of organic molecules with catastrophic results. This story overlaps both the grey goo and the out-of-control virus scenarios. The same author's ''[[Prey (novel)|Prey]]'' (2002) presents a somewhat less limited scenario where a company in Nevada accidentally/purposely releases self-assembling nanobots into the desert, which quickly replicate and evolve and threaten all of the human protagonists.

*The plot of [[John Sladek]]'s 1968 novel ''The Reproductive System'' (British title ''Mechasm'') is based on small (but not nano-scale) machines who scour the world for material to make more of themselves. The phrase "grey goo" is not used but the idea is the same.

*In the [[Adam Warren]]-penned ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' [[manga]] (1979-), mankind has ventured out into the stars as a result of the '''Nodachi Nanoclysm''' (often referred to as just "the Nanoclysm"), where nano absorbed most of the solar system before gaining sentience and annihilating itself to save its creators. As a result, with rare exceptions, nanotechnology is universally banned in human civilizations.

*[[Greg Bear]]'s novel ''[[Blood Music]]'' (1983) is a classic of the field, depicting a form of grey goo originally derived from human [[lymphocyte]]s.

*[[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller]]'s graphic novel, ''[[Ronin (comic)|Ronin]]'' (1983-84), is set in a future New York that is being overtaken by a post-[[Technological singularity|singularity]] computer complex capable of physically replicating itself.

*[[Alan Moore]]'s comic book, ''[[Promethea]]'', takes place in a technologically-futuristic modern world, where the synthetic "Elastagel" is ubiquitous. In one issue, a [[Y2K]] malfunction causes all the Elastagel to melt and run together, essentially creating a [[The Blob|Blob]]-like creature that causes havoc before being destroyed by the protagonist.

*In [[Jeffrey Carver]]'s 1989 novel, ''From a Changeling Star'', medical NAGs (nano-agents) capable of healing a human body from severe trauma run dangerously amok, causing amnesia and bizarre behavior. Competing NAGs, known collectively as an intelligence named Dax, help to reconstruct the memories and reveal a conspiracy regarding an attempt to cause Betelgeuse to go supernova.

*[[Walter Jon Williams]]'s novel ''[[Aristoi (novel)|Aristoi]]'' (1993) features a future wherein Earth was consumed and destroyed by runaway nanorobots, referred to as "mataglap", from an [[Indonesian]] expression, "Mata Gelap," meaning "cloudy eye," "dark eye," or "dilated eye." Mata Gelap is considered to be an indication that one is blind to reason, and possibly about to [[run amok]].

*In [[Ken Macleod]]'s ''[[The Stone Canal]]'' (1996), blue goo is a generic anti-nanomachine antiseptic.

*In [[Iain M. Banks]]'s "Culture" series, specifically in ''[[Excession]]'' (1996), the major possible threat to the Culture is considered to be something called an "Aggressive Hegemonizing Swarm", selfish self-replicating devices intent on turning all matter in the Universe into copies of themselves.

*In [[Stephen Baxter]]'s ''[[Moonseed]]'' (1998), Venus and the entire earth are engulfed by grey goo. This forces the inhabitants of Earth to flee to the Moon, which is immune to the goo because of an alien presence.

*[[Wil McCarthy]]'s science fiction novel ''[[Bloom (novel)|Bloom]]'' (1999) is set in a future in which a grey goo has overwhelmed the entire inner solar system, with the only remaining colonies of humans surviving in the asteroid belt and on Jupiter's moons.

*In [[Yukito Kishiro]]'s ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]: Last Order'' (2000-), grey goo is mentioned by a Venusian councilor during a LADDER meeting. Apparently the result of bored teenagers messing with common nanotechnology, it is the reason LADDER has made very strict laws concerning the use of nanotech in the solar system.

*[[James Alan Gardner]] includes a grey goo incident in his science fiction novel ''[[Ascending]]'' (2001). A spy on a starship intentionally causes the incident using a computer-sabotaging nano agent.

*In [[Jasper Fforde]]'s Thursday Next novel ''[[Lost in a Good Book]]'' (2002), the entire world is (and later is not) turned into a sweet-tasting pink goo by nanomachines designed to manufacture strawberry Dream Topping.

*Patrick Larkin's contribution to the [[Robert Ludlum]] Covert-One series, called ''[[The Lazarus Vendetta]]'' (2003), is about nanotechnology initially that was derived for benevolent purposes but then intentionally set loose by terrorists, using biological signals. Victims are turned into "organic soup": piles of goo and bone fragments.

*[[Alastair Reynolds]]' book ''[[Century Rain]]'' (2004) describes an Earth decimated by an eruption of nanotechnology (an event referred to as the "Nanocaust"). Although not a strictly traditional "grey-goo" scenario, it is still an outline of an apocalypse arising from uncontrolled nanomachinery.

*[[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s [[Ice-nine]] from the novel ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'' has similar properties to grey goo and is capable of "freezing" liquid water instantly if it touches it. It is accidentally dropped into the ocean and causes all the world's water to crystallize. It is, in essence, a [[Doomsday device]].

*[[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''Found'' is about a "virus" that lives off metals. The viruses infect large computers in orbit around earth, and begin to "eat" them. The immediate conflict is resolved when it is discovered that vibrations kill the virus; however, the protagonists worry that earth's civilization has been "found" by extraterrestrial civilizations.

*In [[Neal Stephenson|Neal Stephenson's]] novel ''[[The Diamond Age]]'', the air is choked with vast clouds of nanobots referred to as "toner" because of the black residue they leave on clothes and the lung damage they cause over time, if inhaled.

* [[Joan D. Vinge]]'s book [[The Summer Queen]] contains a chapter with a "universal solvent", a horde of carbon-based nanobats that turn any source of carbon into diamonds. Being partially diamond themselves, they are almost indestructible.

* Nano-disasters of varying sizes seem to be a common thing in [[Warren Ellis]]'s [[Transmetropolitan]], as nearly every home has a "Maker" that uses nanomachines to create products from raw materials. Makers have code to prevent them from building certain items, but these codes are sometimes broken by the curious or the malicious.

===In film and television===
*In the science fiction television series ''[[Lexx]]'', self-replicating robot arms called ''[[Mantrid]] drones'' wind up consuming the mass of an entire universe. Mantrid drones were macroscopic machines, but they apparently used nanotechnology as part of their means of manufacturing new parts for themselves.

*''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' also fought a form of macroscopic self replicating machines. This enemy was known as the "[[Replicator (Stargate)|Replicator]]s". The basic building block of the Replicators is a 1cm trapezoidal block containing its own power supply and computing/memory capacity. These blocks could be then organized into structures as simple as six-legged arachnoid scout bot to [[FTL|faster-than-light]] capable star ships of unlimited size. The first replicators were built by a defective [[android]], but due to their immense computing power and [[hive mind]], they quickly became sentient and began executing their own agenda of converting the entire universe into replicators. The initial replicators were macroscopic, but more advanced nanoscopic versions appeared that could mimic humanoid lifeforms.

*In [[The Matrix Reloaded]], the program [[Agent Smith]] becomes a data-based form of grey goo--a self-aware virus that copies itself over other programs, be they human minds or fellow Agents.

*''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has an episode entitled "[[Vox Sola (Enterprise episode)|Vox Sola]]" in which the Enterprise is being overtaken by a biological entity. A strange, symbiotic alien creature boards Enterprise and captures several crew members and Hoshi has to decipher the creature's complex language. On the entity's planet, T'Pol, Reed, Phlox and Hoshi land in a shuttlepod and release the entity at the coordinates given earlier. Phlox also releases the tendril severed in the Cargo Bay, which is reabsorbed. As the shuttlepod returns to the Enterprise, dawn breaks and the area is revealed to be covered with one huge grey organism. Granted this "organism" would be labeled "green goo" due to being biological and not a nanotechnological (mechanical) entity, but the entity is related to grey goo due to appearance and hyper-assimilation actions.

*In ''[[Babylon 5]]'' 's spin-off ''[[Crusade_(TV_series)|Crusade]]'', a race called the Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five years if it is not stopped.

*An episode of [[Cartoon Network]]'s series ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' entitled "Dark Heart" pitted the comic book heroes of the [[DC comics]] universe against a nanotechnological [[weapon of mass destruction]] created by an ancient alien race designed to defeat its enemy by literally devouring the planet from under them. It is stopped when [[The Atom]] is sent inside the central mass to examine and attack it at the source.

*One fanciful depiction of a grey goo crisis was in an episode of the ''[[Gargoyles (animated series)|Gargoyles]]'' [[animated series]] where the protagonists face an advanced form of artificially intelligent nanotechnology. They stop it by making contact and convincing it to stop its spread.

*''[[The Blob]]'', a 1958 science-fiction film, depicted a jelly-like mass emerging from a fallen meteor and dissolving every living thing it came into contact with. Although it was probably not intended, this is a perfect example of what grey goo would be capable of (at the end of the film the Blob is hit with carbon dioxide from fire extinguishers and, in a harmless frozen state, was shipped to the Arctic).

*The [[computer-animated]] cartoon series ''[[ReBoot]]'' featured a [[computer virus]] called 'Medusa' that was stolen by Megabyte from Hexadecimal and accidentally unleashed, spreading in a manner similar to grey goo, turning everyone and everything in mainframe save for Bob and Hexadecimal to stone. Bob then confronts Hexadecimal and convinces her to release the antivirus, returning mainframe and its inhabitants to normal.

*An episode of [[Sci Fi Channel]]'s series ''[[Eureka]]'' (aired in the [[UK]] and [[Ireland]] on [[Sky One]] as ''A Town Called Eureka'') entitled "Primal": Nanoids have been spreading across Global Dynamics and creating clones of the employees, especially Nathan Stark. The Nanoids reproduce at an exponential rate and harvest human matter for energy and materials.

*The 2001 sci-fi/comedy [[Evolution (film)|Evolution]] revolves around an actual grey goo, introduced to Earth via a metorite, which rapidly evolves, grows, differentiates into multiple species, and merges back together as it spreads throughout an Arizona town's underground cave system.

===In other media===
*In the virtual world ''[[Second Life]]'', it is a popular term referring to player-coded objects that self-replicate out of control and thus (intentionally or otherwise) consume server resources and end up as a [[Denial of Service]] attack.

*[[Sierra Entertainment]]'s computer game ''[[Outpost 2]]'' was a ''[[Civilization (computer game)|Civilization]]''-like game which theme was based on a space colony where a lab exploded, creating a plague that consumed everything in its path, called 'the Blight'. As a side effect, the entire planet was transformed into a huge computer.

*''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'', the unofficial sequel to ''[[Civilization 2]]'', had one "Secret Project" called The Nano-Factory. When built, units can be repaired in the field, even in enemy territory. The premise was of a nanomachine fluid that can absorb and reprocess any items to which it is exposed and use that raw material to produce weapons and equipment. "Industrial Grade Nano-Paste, Planet's most valuable commodity, can also be one of its most dangerous. Simply pour out several canisters, slide in a programming transponder, and step well away while the stuff cooks. In under an hour the nano will use available materials to assemble a small factory, a hovertank, or enough impact rifles to equip a regiment. — Col. Corazon Santiago, 'Planet: A Survivalist's Guide'" A cutscene begins once the project is completed, showing a futuristic battlefield littered with organic material (corpses) and destroyed implements of war. The nanomachines are then introduced to the area and dissolve everything present, before producing a new hovertank out of the material.

*Also seen in ''Alpha Centauri'' was a colony upgrade called a Nanoreplicator, which ostensibly used nanomachines to perfectly replicate any item down to the atomic level.

*In the introduction sequence of [[Ion Storm Inc.|Ion Storm]]'s futuristic PC and Xbox game ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War]]'', a nanotechnology bomb called a nanite detonator is detonated by a terrorist cell to destroy the city of [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]. The result of the bomb being detonated is a wave of ''purple'' goo that consumes and destroys the entire city. Victims are transformed into brittle sand-like (salt?) statues of themselves.

*[[Activision]]'s computer strategy game ''[[Civilization: Call to Power]]'' contained a military unit called the 'Eco Ranger', which could be used under an 'Ecotopian' government to completely destroy a city and its surroundings, almost like a nuclear weapon. Unlike a nuclear weapon, which halved a city population, destroyed all military units and tile improvements around the city as well as polluting several adjacent tiles, this unit was supposed to use nanomachines, 'grey goo', to completely destroy the city and its surroundings, converting the area into pristine wilderness.

*The [[Zerg]] in [[Blizzard Entertainment]]'s ''[[StarCraft]]'' series have a structure called a Creep Colony, it is a building sized organ that produces "Creep". Creep is a layer of [[purple]] tissue that all Zerg buildings are built on. It functions as connective, circulatory and nervous tissue tying all the structures into one organism.

*On [[Mr. Bungle]]'s 1999 album ''California'' the song "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" contains the lyrics, "I feel the Grey Goo boiling in my blood."

*The Konami game ''Nanobreaker'' has an opening sequence in which nanomachines reduce all the living organisms on an island to grey goo.

==References==
<references/>
*[[Lynn Margulis]] and [[Dorion Sagan]] - ''What is Life?'' (1995). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81087-5
*Bill Bryson ''[[A Short History of Nearly Everything]]'' (2003)
*[http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=373 Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!]
*[http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64235,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_5 Green Goo: The New Nanothreat] from Wired

== See also ==
* [[Bootstrapped-Brain]]
* [[Clanking replicator]] (often called [[John von Neumann|von Neumann]] machine)
* [[Technology assessment]]
* [[Ice-9]]

== External links ==

* [http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/society/3/6/1/1 Drexler dubs "grey goo" fears obsolete]
* [http://www.iop.org/EJ/news/-topic=763/journal/0957-4484 Nanotechnology pioneer slays "grey goo" myths]
* [http://www.nanotec.org.uk/finalReport.htm Online edition of the Royal Society's report ''Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties'']
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3788673.stm Nanotech guru turns back on 'goo']
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4538547.stm U.S. robot builds copies of itself]
* [http://www.exitmundi.nl/graygoo.htm Exit Mundi article on the grey goo doomsday theory]
* [http://www.greygoo.org/ The First Church of the Grey Goo - humorous new apocalyptic religion]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2003/07/10/ecfnano09.xml Could nanobots destroy us? - The Telegraph (UK newspaper) on Grey Goo]
* [http://members.optusnet.com.au/exponentialist/GreyGoo.htm A look at the exponential nature of grey goo population growth]

[[Category:Nanotechnology]]
[[Category:Artificial life]]
[[Category:Environmental disasters]]

[[es:Goo gris]]
[[sv:Grey goo]]

Graue Schmiere

2006-11-22T18:27:38Z

Ethicalhacker: added eou arguement, grey goo doesn't stop here

{{TOCright}}
'''''Grey goo''''' refers to a hypothetical [[End of civilization|end-of-the-world]] (or possibly end of universe) scenario involving [[molecular nanotechnology]] in which out-of-control [[self replication|self-replicating]] robots consume all living matter on [[Earth]] while building more of themselves (a scenario known as [[ecophagy]]).

The term is usually used in a [[science fiction]] context. In a worst-case scenario, all of the matter in the [[universe]] could be turned into goo (with "goo" meaning a large mass of replicating nanomachines lacking large-scale structure, which may or may not actually appear [[goo]]-like), killing the universe's inhabitants. The disaster is posited to result from an accidental [[mutation]] in a self-replicating nanomachine used for other purposes, or possibly from a deliberate [[doomsday device]].

==Definition of grey goo==
The term was first used by molecular nanotechnology pioneer [[Eric Drexler]] in his book ''[[Engines of Creation (book)|Engines of Creation]]'' (1986). In Chapter 4, ''Engines Of Abundance'', Drexler explores a scary scenario of [[exponential growth]] with such [[assembler (nanotechnology)|assemblers]]:

:"Thus the first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds, the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four, and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours, there are not thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion. In less than a day, they would weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets combined - if the bottle of chemicals hadn't run dry long before."

Drexler describes grey goo in Chapter 11 ''Engines Of Destruction'':

:"...early assembler-based replicators could beat the most advanced modern organisms. 'Plants' with 'leaves' no more efficient than today's solar cells could out-compete real plants, crowding the biosphere with an inedible foliage. Tough, omnivorous 'bacteria' could out-compete real bacteria: they could spread like blowing pollen, replicate swiftly, and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days. Dangerous replicators could easily be too tough, small, and rapidly spreading to stop - at least if we made no preparation. We have trouble enough controlling viruses and fruit flies."

It is thus worth noting that grey goo need not be grey or gooey. They could be like, for all purposes, a [[plant]] or [[bacteria]]. It is only the result of their ecophagy that would resemble grey goo.

==Other varieties==

Grey goo has several whimsical cousins, differentiated by the varied reasons for them and by their allocated colors. Most of these are not as commonly referred to as grey goo, however, and the definitions are informal:
* ''Golden Goo'' is the backfiring of a get-rich-quick scheme to assemble gold or other economically valuable substance.
* ''Black Goo'' is goo that has been designed to carry a plague and intentionally unleashed into a populated area.
* ''Red Goo'' is goo unleashed intentionally by [[terrorism|terrorists]], a doomsday weapon, or a private individual who wishes to commit [[suicide]] with a bang.
* ''Khaki Goo'' is goo intended by the military to wipe out somebody else's continent, planet, etc.
* ''Blue Goo'' is goo deliberately released in order to stop some other type of grey goo. It might well be the only solution to such a disaster, and would hopefully be better controlled than the original goo.
* ''Pink Goo'' is a tongue-in-cheek alias for [[humanity]], as the human species as a whole could be characterized as relentlessly self-propogating, planet-consuming, and potentially interstellar in scope. This metaphor has often but not exclusively been used to characterize human space expansion as a catastrophe, opening up the possibility of an entire galaxy or universe ultimately 'digested' by Pink Goo, perhaps at the expense of previous, less gregarious inhabitants.
* ''Green Goo'' is goo deliberately released, for example by [[ecoterrorist]]s, in order to stop the spread of Pink Goo, either by sterilization or simply by digesting the pink goo. Some form of this, along with an antidote available to the selected few, has been suggested as a strategy for achieving [[zero population growth]]. The term originates from the science fiction classic, <cite>[[Soylent Green]]</cite>.

==Living goo==
One convenient analogy for the grey goo problem is to consider bacteria as the most perfect example of biological nanotechnology. As they have not reduced the world to '''living goo''', some consider it unlikely that some artificial construct will manage to do so with grey goo.

Even so, some people argue that living goo, or even a combination of [[nanotechnology]] and [[biotechnology]] to create organic [[replicators]], is a more realistic threat than grey goo. Arguing that bacteria are [[ubiquitous]] and extraordinarily powerful, [[Bill Bryson]] (2003) says that the Earth is "their planet" and that we only exist on it because "they allow us to". Margulis and Sagan (1995) go further, arguing that all organisms, having descended from bacteria, ''are'' in a sense bacteria. Many kinds of bacteria are in fact essential for human life and are found in large quantities in the human digestive tract, in a [[symbiotic relationship]].

Thus a living goo could be a [[multicellular organism]] that obtains its raw materials to grow through ecophagy, and then grows through a process of [[exponential assembly]] such as [[cell division]].

==Risks and precautions==
It is unclear whether the molecular nanotechnology would be capable of creating grey goo at all. Among other common refutations, theorists suggest that the very size of [[nanoparticles]] inhibits them from moving very quickly. While the biological matter that composes life releases significant amounts of [[energy]] when [[oxidisation|oxidised]], and other sources of energy such as sunlight are available, this energy might not be sufficient for the putative nanorobots to out-compete existing organic [[life]] that already uses those resources, especially considering how much energy nanorobots would use for locomotion. If the nanomachine was itself composed of [[organic molecule]]s, then it might even find itself being preyed upon by preexisting bacteria and other natural life forms.

If nanorobots were built of [[inorganic]] compounds or made much use of elements that are not generally found in living matter, then they would need to use much of their metabolic output for fighting [[entropy]] as they purified (reduce sand to silicon, for instance) and synthesized the necessary building blocks. There would be little chemical energy available from inorganic matter such as rocks because, aside from a few exceptions ([[coal]], for example) it is mostly well-oxidized and sitting in a [[Free energy|free-energy]] minimum.

Assuming a molecular nanotechnological [[replicator]] were capable of causing a grey goo disaster, safety precautions might include programming them to stop reproducing after a certain number of [[generation]]s (but, see [[cancer]]), designing them to require a rare material that would be sprayed on the construction site before their release, or requiring constant direct control from an external computer. Another possibility is to [[encrypt]] the memory of the replicators in such a way that any changed copy is overwhelmingly likely to [[decrypt]] to non-functioning static.

In [[Britain]], the [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince of Wales]] called upon the [[Royal Society]] to investigate the "enormous environmental and social risks" of nanotechnology in a planned report, leading to much delighted media commentary on grey goo. The Royal Society's report on nanoscience was released on [[29 July]] [[2004]].

Recently, new analysis has shown that the danger of grey goo is far less likely than originally thought.<ref>{{cite press release| url=http://www.crnano.org/PR-IOP.htm| date=June 9, 2004| title=Leading nanotech experts put 'grey goo' in perspective| publisher=Center for Responsible Nanotechnology| accessdate=2006-06-17}}</ref> However, other long-term major risks to society and the environment from nanotechnology have been identified.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.crnano.org/dangers.htm| title= Current Results of Our Research| publisher=Center for Responsible Nanotechnology| accessdate=2006-06-17}}</ref> Drexler has made a somewhat public effort to retract his grey goo hypothesis, in an effort to focus the debate on more realistic threats associated with knowledge-enabled nanoterrorism and other misuses.

==Famous quotes==
* "We cannot afford certain types of accidents", Eric Drexler, [[Engines of creation]], [[1986]]
* "I wish I had never used the term 'grey goo'", Eric Drexler, [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] [[10 June]] [[2004]]

==Fictional depictions==
{{spoiler}}
===In books===
*"[[Autofac]]" is a 1955 science fiction short story by [[Philip K. Dick]] that features one of the earliest treatments of self-replicating machines.

*In [[Stanisław Lem]]'s ''Ciemność i Plesń'' (''Darkness and Mildew''), 1959, spores of an engineered lifeform that can use nuclear energy escape the lab. In order for the spores to activate, they need to be in the dark and near a rare species of mildew (hence the title), after which they grow exponentially.

*In [[Michael Crichton]]'s ''[[The Andromeda Strain]]'' (1969), also made into a movie, a rapidly evolving virus/prion-like chemical consumes many types of organic molecules with catastrophic results. This story overlaps both the grey goo and the out-of-control virus scenarios. The same author's ''[[Prey (novel)|Prey]]'' (2002) presents a somewhat less limited scenario where a company in Nevada accidentally/purposely releases self-assembling nanobots into the desert, which quickly replicate and evolve and threaten all of the human protagonists.

*The plot of [[John Sladek]]'s 1968 novel ''The Reproductive System'' (British title ''Mechasm'') is based on small (but not nano-scale) machines who scour the world for material to make more of themselves. The phrase "grey goo" is not used but the idea is the same.

*In the [[Adam Warren]]-penned ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' [[manga]] (1979-), mankind has ventured out into the stars as a result of the '''Nodachi Nanoclysm''' (often referred to as just "the Nanoclysm"), where nano absorbed most of the solar system before gaining sentience and annihilating itself to save its creators. As a result, with rare exceptions, nanotechnology is universally banned in human civilizations.

*[[Greg Bear]]'s novel ''[[Blood Music]]'' (1983) is a classic of the field, depicting a form of grey goo originally derived from human [[lymphocyte]]s.

*[[Frank Miller (comics)|Frank Miller]]'s graphic novel, ''[[Ronin (comic)|Ronin]]'' (1983-84), is set in a future New York that is being overtaken by a post-[[Technological singularity|singularity]] computer complex capable of physically replicating itself.

*[[Alan Moore]]'s comic book, ''[[Promethea]]'', takes place in a technologically-futuristic modern world, where the synthetic "Elastagel" is ubiquitous. In one issue, a [[Y2K]] malfunction causes all the Elastagel to melt and run together, essentially creating a [[The Blob|Blob]]-like creature that causes havoc before being destroyed by the protagonist.

*In [[Jeffrey Carver]]'s 1989 novel, ''From a Changeling Star'', medical NAGs (nano-agents) capable of healing a human body from severe trauma run dangerously amok, causing amnesia and bizarre behavior. Competing NAGs, known collectively as an intelligence named Dax, help to reconstruct the memories and reveal a conspiracy regarding an attempt to cause Betelgeuse to go supernova.

*[[Walter Jon Williams]]'s novel ''[[Aristoi (novel)|Aristoi]]'' (1993) features a future wherein Earth was consumed and destroyed by runaway nanorobots, referred to as "mataglap", from an [[Indonesian]] expression, "Mata Gelap," meaning "cloudy eye," "dark eye," or "dilated eye." Mata Gelap is considered to be an indication that one is blind to reason, and possibly about to [[run amok]].

*In [[Ken Macleod]]'s ''[[The Stone Canal]]'' (1996), blue goo is a generic anti-nanomachine antiseptic.

*In [[Iain M. Banks]]'s "Culture" series, specifically in ''[[Excession]]'' (1996), the major possible threat to the Culture is considered to be something called an "Aggressive Hegemonizing Swarm", selfish self-replicating devices intent on turning all matter in the Universe into copies of themselves.

*In [[Stephen Baxter]]'s ''[[Moonseed]]'' (1998), Venus and the entire earth are engulfed by grey goo. This forces the inhabitants of Earth to flee to the Moon, which is immune to the goo because of an alien presence.

*[[Wil McCarthy]]'s science fiction novel ''[[Bloom (novel)|Bloom]]'' (1999) is set in a future in which a grey goo has overwhelmed the entire inner solar system, with the only remaining colonies of humans surviving in the asteroid belt and on Jupiter's moons.

*In [[Yukito Kishiro]]'s ''[[Battle Angel Alita]]: Last Order'' (2000-), grey goo is mentioned by a Venusian councilor during a LADDER meeting. Apparently the result of bored teenagers messing with common nanotechnology, it is the reason LADDER has made very strict laws concerning the use of nanotech in the solar system.

*[[James Alan Gardner]] includes a grey goo incident in his science fiction novel ''[[Ascending]]'' (2001). A spy on a starship intentionally causes the incident using a computer-sabotaging nano agent.

*In [[Jasper Fforde]]'s Thursday Next novel ''[[Lost in a Good Book]]'' (2002), the entire world is (and later is not) turned into a sweet-tasting pink goo by nanomachines designed to manufacture strawberry Dream Topping.

*Patrick Larkin's contribution to the [[Robert Ludlum]] Covert-One series, called ''[[The Lazarus Vendetta]]'' (2003), is about nanotechnology initially that was derived for benevolent purposes but then intentionally set loose by terrorists, using biological signals. Victims are turned into "organic soup": piles of goo and bone fragments.

*[[Alastair Reynolds]]' book ''[[Century Rain]]'' (2004) describes an Earth decimated by an eruption of nanotechnology (an event referred to as the "Nanocaust"). Although not a strictly traditional "grey-goo" scenario, it is still an outline of an apocalypse arising from uncontrolled nanomachinery.

*[[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s [[Ice-nine]] from the novel ''[[Cat's Cradle]]'' has similar properties to grey goo and is capable of "freezing" liquid water instantly if it touches it. It is accidentally dropped into the ocean and causes all the world's water to crystallize. It is, in essence, a [[Doomsday device]].

*[[Isaac Asimov]]'s short story ''Found'' is about a "virus" that lives off metals. The viruses infect large computers in orbit around earth, and begin to "eat" them. The immediate conflict is resolved when it is discovered that vibrations kill the virus; however, the protagonists worry that earth's civilization has been "found" by extraterrestrial civilizations.

*In [[Neal Stephenson|Neal Stephenson's]] novel ''[[The Diamond Age]]'', the air is choked with vast clouds of nanobots referred to as "toner" because of the black residue they leave on clothes and the lung damage they cause over time, if inhaled.

* [[Joan D. Vinge]]'s book [[The Summer Queen]] contains a chapter with a "universal solvent", a horde of carbon-based nanobats that turn any source of carbon into diamonds. Being partially diamond themselves, they are almost indestructible.

* Nano-disasters of varying sizes seem to be a common thing in [[Warren Ellis]]'s [[Transmetropolitan]], as nearly every home has a "Maker" that uses nanomachines to create products from raw materials. Makers have code to prevent them from building certain items, but these codes are sometimes broken by the curious or the malicious.

===In film and television===
*In the science fiction television series ''[[Lexx]]'', self-replicating robot arms called ''[[Mantrid]] drones'' wind up consuming the mass of an entire universe. Mantrid drones were macroscopic machines, but they apparently used nanotechnology as part of their means of manufacturing new parts for themselves.

*''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' also fought a form of macroscopic self replicating machines. This enemy was known as the "[[Replicator (Stargate)|Replicator]]s". The basic building block of the Replicators is a 1cm trapezoidal block containing its own power supply and computing/memory capacity. These blocks could be then organized into structures as simple as six-legged arachnoid scout bot to [[FTL|faster-than-light]] capable star ships of unlimited size. The first replicators were built by a defective [[android]], but due to their immense computing power and [[hive mind]], they quickly became sentient and began executing their own agenda of converting the entire universe into replicators. The initial replicators were macroscopic, but more advanced nanoscopic versions appeared that could mimic humanoid lifeforms.

*In [[The Matrix Reloaded]], the program [[Agent Smith]] becomes a data-based form of grey goo--a self-aware virus that copies itself over other programs, be they human minds or fellow Agents.

*''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' has an episode entitled "[[Vox Sola (Enterprise episode)|Vox Sola]]" in which the Enterprise is being overtaken by a biological entity. A strange, symbiotic alien creature boards Enterprise and captures several crew members and Hoshi has to decipher the creature's complex language. On the entity's planet, T'Pol, Reed, Phlox and Hoshi land in a shuttlepod and release the entity at the coordinates given earlier. Phlox also releases the tendril severed in the Cargo Bay, which is reabsorbed. As the shuttlepod returns to the Enterprise, dawn breaks and the area is revealed to be covered with one huge grey organism. Granted this "organism" would be labeled "green goo" due to being biological and not a nanotechnological (mechanical) entity, but the entity is related to grey goo due to appearance and hyper-assimilation actions.

*In ''[[Babylon 5]]'' 's spin-off ''[[Crusade_(TV_series)|Crusade]]'', a race called the Drakh have released a nanovirus plague on Earth, which will destroy all life on Earth within five years if it is not stopped.

*An episode of [[Cartoon Network]]'s series ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' entitled "Dark Heart" pitted the comic book heroes of the [[DC comics]] universe against a nanotechnological [[weapon of mass destruction]] created by an ancient alien race designed to defeat its enemy by literally devouring the planet from under them. It is stopped when [[The Atom]] is sent inside the central mass to examine and attack it at the source.

*One fanciful depiction of a grey goo crisis was in an episode of the ''[[Gargoyles (animated series)|Gargoyles]]'' [[animated series]] where the protagonists face an advanced form of artificially intelligent nanotechnology. They stop it by making contact and convincing it to stop its spread.

*''[[The Blob]]'', a 1958 science-fiction film, depicted a jelly-like mass emerging from a fallen meteor and dissolving every living thing it came into contact with. Although it was probably not intended, this is a perfect example of what grey goo would be capable of (at the end of the film the Blob is hit with carbon dioxide from fire extinguishers and, in a harmless frozen state, was shipped to the Arctic).

*The [[computer-animated]] cartoon series ''[[ReBoot]]'' featured a [[computer virus]] called 'Medusa' that was stolen by Megabyte from Hexadecimal and accidentally unleashed, spreading in a manner similar to grey goo, turning everyone and everything in mainframe save for Bob and Hexadecimal to stone. Bob then confronts Hexadecimal and convinces her to release the antivirus, returning mainframe and its inhabitants to normal.

*An episode of [[Sci Fi Channel]]'s series ''[[Eureka]]'' (aired in the [[UK]] and [[Ireland]] on [[Sky One]] as ''A Town Called Eureka'') entitled "Primal": Nanoids have been spreading across Global Dynamics and creating clones of the employees, especially Nathan Stark. The Nanoids reproduce at an exponential rate and harvest human matter for energy and materials.

*The 2001 sci-fi/comedy [[Evolution (film)|Evolution]] revolves around an actual grey goo, introduced to Earth via a metorite, which rapidly evolves, grows, differentiates into multiple species, and merges back together as it spreads throughout an Arizona town's underground cave system.

===In other media===
*In the virtual world ''[[Second Life]]'', it is a popular term referring to player-coded objects that self-replicate out of control and thus (intentionally or otherwise) consume server resources and end up as a [[Denial of Service]] attack.

*[[Sierra Entertainment]]'s computer game ''[[Outpost 2]]'' was a ''[[Civilization (computer game)|Civilization]]''-like game which theme was based on a space colony where a lab exploded, creating a plague that consumed everything in its path, called 'the Blight'. As a side effect, the entire planet was transformed into a huge computer.

*''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'', the unofficial sequel to ''[[Civilization 2]]'', had one "Secret Project" called The Nano-Factory. When built, units can be repaired in the field, even in enemy territory. The premise was of a nanomachine fluid that can absorb and reprocess any items to which it is exposed and use that raw material to produce weapons and equipment. "Industrial Grade Nano-Paste, Planet's most valuable commodity, can also be one of its most dangerous. Simply pour out several canisters, slide in a programming transponder, and step well away while the stuff cooks. In under an hour the nano will use available materials to assemble a small factory, a hovertank, or enough impact rifles to equip a regiment. — Col. Corazon Santiago, 'Planet: A Survivalist's Guide'" A cutscene begins once the project is completed, showing a futuristic battlefield littered with organic material (corpses) and destroyed implements of war. The nanomachines are then introduced to the area and dissolve everything present, before producing a new hovertank out of the material.

*Also seen in ''Alpha Centauri'' was a colony upgrade called a Nanoreplicator, which ostensibly used nanomachines to perfectly replicate any item down to the atomic level.

*In the introduction sequence of [[Ion Storm Inc.|Ion Storm]]'s futuristic PC and Xbox game ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War]]'', a nanotechnology bomb called a nanite detonator is detonated by a terrorist cell to destroy the city of [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]]. The result of the bomb being detonated is a wave of ''purple'' goo that consumes and destroys the entire city. Victims are transformed into brittle sand-like (salt?) statues of themselves.

*[[Activision]]'s computer strategy game ''[[Civilization: Call to Power]]'' contained a military unit called the 'Eco Ranger', which could be used under an 'Ecotopian' government to completely destroy a city and its surroundings, almost like a nuclear weapon. Unlike a nuclear weapon, which halved a city population, destroyed all military units and tile improvements around the city as well as polluting several adjacent tiles, this unit was supposed to use nanomachines, 'grey goo', to completely destroy the city and its surroundings, converting the area into pristine wilderness.

*The [[Zerg]] in [[Blizzard Entertainment]]'s ''[[StarCraft]]'' series have a structure called a Creep Colony, it is a building sized organ that produces "Creep". Creep is a layer of [[purple]] tissue that all Zerg buildings are built on. It functions as connective, circulatory and nervous tissue tying all the structures into one organism.

*On [[Mr. Bungle]]'s 1999 album ''California'' the song "None of Them Knew They Were Robots" contains the lyrics, "I feel the Grey Goo boiling in my blood."

*The Konami game ''Nanobreaker'' has an opening sequence in which nanomachines reduce all the living organisms on an island to grey goo.

==References==
<references/>
*[[Lynn Margulis]] and [[Dorion Sagan]] - ''What is Life?'' (1995). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81087-5
*Bill Bryson ''[[A Short History of Nearly Everything]]'' (2003)
*[http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=373 Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!]
*[http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64235,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_5 Green Goo: The New Nanothreat] from Wired

== See also ==
* [[Bootstrapped-Brain]]
* [[Clanking replicator]] (often called [[John von Neumann|von Neumann]] machine)
* [[Technology assessment]]
* [[Ice-9]]

== External links ==

* [http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/society/3/6/1/1 Drexler dubs "grey goo" fears obsolete]
* [http://www.iop.org/EJ/news/-topic=763/journal/0957-4484 Nanotechnology pioneer slays "grey goo" myths]
* [http://www.nanotec.org.uk/finalReport.htm Online edition of the Royal Society's report ''Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties'']
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3788673.stm Nanotech guru turns back on 'goo']
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4538547.stm U.S. robot builds copies of itself]
* [http://www.exitmundi.nl/graygoo.htm Exit Mundi article on the grey goo doomsday theory]
* [http://www.greygoo.org/ The First Church of the Grey Goo - humorous new apocalyptic religion]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2003/07/10/ecfnano09.xml Could nanobots destroy us? - The Telegraph (UK newspaper) on Grey Goo]
* [http://members.optusnet.com.au/exponentialist/GreyGoo.htm A look at the exponential nature of grey goo population growth]

[[Category:Nanotechnology]]
[[Category:Artificial life]]
[[Category:Environmental disasters]]

[[es:Goo gris]]
[[sv:Grey goo]]

Champeta

2006-11-20T23:59:02Z

Ethicalhacker: wikified and added some information and popular titles

'''Champeta''' is a genre of [[music]] from [[Colombia]] with several variant styles. It combines urban sounds and Central and West Africa and Latin beats. Its origin is the city of [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]]. The music has been influenced by soukous, compas and ragga and is often categorized as Tropical.

Fans of Champeta are coloquioly refered to as "Champetudos" which can be used as a derogetory term in some circumstances. Likewise, Champeta is often called "Champa".

=List of Champeta Bands and Musicians=
*Chawala
*Luis Towers
*El Afinaíto
*El Sayayín
*El Pupy
*El johnky
*Mr. Black
*El Encato
*Alvaro "El Barbaro"
*El Yao
*Ito "El Intocable"
*Boogaloo
*Elio Boom (mixed champeta/raggamuffin)
*[[BIP]] ([[reggaeton]] and champeta.)

=List of Popular Champetas=
*La Camisa Rayada
*La Boca Grande
*La Rubia de Oro
*Bicarbonato
*Suelta La Manca
*La Chiva de Miguel

{{Colombia-stub}}
{{dance-stub}}

==External links==
* [http://www.travel-impressions.de/champeta/champeta.htm Champeta Photos] in Cartagena
* [http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php?story=20040528164253404 Champeta Criolla] (Home Grown Champeta)

[[Category:Colombian styles of music]]
[[Category:Dance]]