Louis Del Monte, renowned physicist, former leader of microelectronics at IBM, technology developer for Honeywell and Samsung, author of research on artificial intelligence, released his new book Nanoweapons: A Growing Threat to Humanity this spring (Nanoweapons: a growing threat to humanity).
Del Monte predicts that by the end of the 2020s, terrorists will be able to gain access to nanoweapons and will be able to use nanobots (nanobots) to carry out terrorist attacks, for example, to infect the water supply systems of large cities or to poison people with injections. Nanodrones, according to Del Monte, can also become instruments of biological warfare.
Military laboratories have been working on miniaturization of drones for a long time. Last year, DARPA was able to brag about the results of its program to create fast, lightweight autonomous drones. A small drone without operator control, without GPS navigation and relying only on its own sensor system, was able to fly through test mazes at a speed of 20 m / s. The next challenge is to reduce the size and weight of all systems so that the drone can operate quickly and independently indoors.
In 2014, researchers from the US Army Laboratory presented miniature wings 3-5 cm long, robotic miniature legs and motors with a diameter of 2-3 millimeters. According to the researchers, in 10-15 years they will be able to create military insect robots.
This, of course, is far from the nanoscale, but it is an obvious vector for the development of military technologies.
In 2010, the Pentagon expressed fears that nanotechnology would lead to the creation of explosive artificial micro-dust, nanobots could deliver biological weapons, act as weapons themselves, and even nanobots would breathe into the lungs of soldiers and disable them.
By the way, in the summer of 2016, RIA Novosti, referring to the Venezuelan pro-government portal Aporrea, wrote that the Venezuelan authorities associate the death of Hugo Chavez with nanoweapons. According to Aporrea, the United States and nanotechnology could be involved in the poisoning of Chavez: "Nanoweapons can transport various types of nanoparticles that are capable of provoking a large number of diseases such as heart attacks, cerebrovascular accidents, respiratory arrest, insanity, AIDS and others." According to Aporrea, the development of nanoweapons began in the United States in 2003 at the initiative of President George W. Bush, and $ 3.7 billion was allocated for this purpose.
Nano-weapons were also remembered after the recent death in Malaysia of Kim Jong Nam, the stepbrother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, since, in theory, toxins can be delivered to the body by nanocarriers.
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Luis Del Monte himself predicts in his book that autonomous nanobots will be able to collect copies of themselves, that is, reproduce themselves. Managing millions of nanobots can be a huge problem, and software glitches can have unpredictable consequences. For example, a lost million or two military nanobots can begin to destroy the wrong targets or civilians.
Another danger, according to Del Monte, is the emergence of technologies for creating miniature atomic bombs that can be used by terrorists for a variety of purposes. The scientist also claims that the United States, Russia and China are already investing "billions" in the development of nanoweapons and that the world is facing a new arms race, much more dangerous than the one that took place with nuclear weapons.
The University of Cambridge believes that there is a 5% risk of human death by 2100 due to the use of military nanotechnology, a 10% risk of death of at least one billion people and a 25% risk of death of at least one million people. At the same time, the 5% probability of complete disappearance of mankind from nanoweapons is the highest indicator, the same as death from artificial intelligence (also 5%). The probabilities of total death of humanity from a nuclear war or a pandemic are lower.
Interest in nanoweapons revived after the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded. It was received by Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for the development and synthesis of molecular machines. Scientists managed to bring molecular machines out of equilibrium, making it possible to create a miniature version of engines. This opens up huge prospects for nanobots. The Nobel Committee compared the development of Savage, Stoddart and Feringha with the creation of the first electric motor in 1830 and predicted that molecular machines would change the entire way of life of mankind, as electric motors once did.
Today, the media mainly discusses the medical aspects of using nanobots to treat humans or to create new materials, but the military application is also clear.
In this light, the forgotten global theory of "gray goo", which was voiced in 1986 by Eric Drexler, comes to mind again. It is assumed that self-replicating nanomachines will act as machines not only for creation, but also for destruction, failing and non-stop processing matter and consuming energy to copy themselves. And instead of programmed destruction, for example, of only missiles or reactors in Iran, nanobots will begin to devour everything else. Or terrorists can program them for uncontrolled self-reproduction.
In 2000, Robert Freitas developed Drexler's ideas. He divided "gray goo" into subspecies: "gray plankton" - nanobots in the oceans, "gray dust" - nanobots that extract substances necessary for replication directly from the air, "gray lichen" - nanobots on the Earth's surface, and "biomass killers" destroying living organisms. To combat the "gray goo", Freitas suggested accumulating armies of "good" and preferably not self-replicating nanobots, which could be used to neutralize the "bad" ones.
The war of the future may look like a war of invisible nanobots, not like battles of robots or cyber battles. Luis Del Monte believes that it is the possession of nanoweapons in the 21st century that will determine who is a superpower and who is not.
Ilya Plekhanov
