grey goo
Self-replicating machine catastrophe
Grey goo is a hypothetical catastrophe in which self-replicating nanobots consume all matter on Earth while making copies of themselves.
The scenario, introduced by engineer Eric Drexler in 1986, became a touchstone of nanotechnology fears: The grey goo problem keeps ethicists up at night.
The grey refers to the undifferentiated mass of microscopic machines.
Also spelled gray goo.
Submicroscopic robotic devices
- nanitesMolecule-sized autonomous machines
- self-replicationAutonomous copying of oneself
- nanomachinesAtom-scale automated devices
- nanoscaleBillionth-meter dimension
replicators · disassemblers · nanofabrication · swarm · exponential growth · out-of-control · nanotech · autonomous
Complete vanishing of a species
- doomsdayProphesied world's end
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- end timesProphesied apocalyptic conclusion
- collapseSudden structural failure
destruction · obliteration · disaster · cataclysm · dystopia · existential risk · world-ending · unstoppable
nanobots
Submicroscopic robotic devices
- nanitesMolecule-sized autonomous machines
- self-replicationAutonomous copying of oneself
- nanomachinesAtom-scale automated devices
nanoscale · replicators · disassemblers · nanofabrication · swarm · exponential growth · out-of-control · nanotech · autonomous
extinction
Complete vanishing of a species
- doomsdayProphesied world's end
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- end timesProphesied apocalyptic conclusion
collapse · destruction · obliteration · disaster · cataclysm · dystopia · existential risk · world-ending · unstoppable · irreversible
- global threatsterrorism, nuclear war, cyberattacks, pandemic, nuclear weapons
- nanotechnologynanoparticles, carbon nanotube, nanobots, carbon nanotubes, nanorobots
- artificial lifeself-replication, emergence, genotype, phenotype, mutation
- Superweaponsnuclear bomb, atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, neutron bomb, thermonuclear bomb
- Fictional Materialsadamantine, mithril, unobtainium, unobtanium, dilithium
- nanobotsnanobot, nanobots, nanorobot, nanite, nanites
grey goopandemic
Global disease outbreak
nuclear winter · asteroid impact · supervolcano · climate collapse · AI takeover
grey goonatural disaster
Catastrophic environmental event
organic · biological · nature · plague · viral outbreak
grey goolife
Animate state
biosphere · ecosystem · biodiversity · living world · nature
grey, gray, goo, greyish, grayish, greyer, grayer, greyest, grayest