The (speculative!) hope is for them to be extremely reconfigurable, so you can dynamically simulate most ordinary forms of matter. Matter becomes software, in some extreme sense.pic.twitter.com/wxbykJgkKb
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Another fun speculative paper about programmable matter, this time Utility Fog: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940022864.pdf … The idea is to build 100 micron aluminum oxide "foglets" which would serve as a near-universal substrate for matterpic.twitter.com/bNpH1p8yNe
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The article points out that carbon would be an ideal material in many respects - but has the unfortunate property of catching fire. Especially when in a more or less particulate form, like the fog: very large effective surface area! Better to use aluminium oxide instead.pic.twitter.com/raOWFpC2aT
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On variable density and strength. Effectively, these are to be programmable supermolecules. The paper focuses mostly on basic mechanical properties, not so much things like conductivity, ductility, etc.pic.twitter.com/caE3heqFMV
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It's interesting to think about a list of macroscopic properties that one might desire to be programmable: shape, density, ductility, hardness, brittleness, conductivity, resistivity, etc. & to wonder at what macroscopic properties might be possible, but missing from such a list?
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Eg properties like being alive, or being in a Bose condensate state, or being conscious, were at one time time nowhere true on Earth. But those macroscopic properties at some point came into being for the first time. What other macroscopic properties might one add?
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This kind of paper is interesting as a genre. The details are extremely sketchy, and look naive in a variety of ways. Certainly, no system is built. I imagine many referees would turn it down. Yet I think such visions are valuable.
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A curious fact about living in such an environment: software failures would start to look like failures of the laws of physics. That is, matter would effectively crash. It's one thing to see the BSOD. It's another thing to be living inside it.
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End of conversation
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I'm reminded of the work by Ishii at Media lab -- the physical telepresence stuffhttp://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/physical-telepresence/ …
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