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[Tack]

Actually they've identified a pseudo-aging-chemical, which causes the cellular degeneration, and they're currently working on a couple of drugs which might treat/inhibit it.
This is all still well within the realms of skepticism, but I feel like quantum computing and immortality are both going to be fully functional things at the same time. Bleeding edge, so to speak.

[i2amroy]

Actually they've identified a pseudo-aging-chemical, which causes the cellular degeneration, and they're currently working on a couple of drugs which might treat/inhibit it.
This is all still well within the realms of skepticism, but I feel like quantum computing and immortality are both going to be fully functional things at the same time. Bleeding edge, so to speak.

I don't quite agree with you, but that's mainly because I know that quantum computing is already actually being used in certain laboratory applications and is already starting to creep into specialized things in the business world of today.

The real big problem with "treating" aging is that in truth it doesn't just have a single "cause", but is rather the effects of at least a couple dozen (maybe more) factors all working together to slowly work you to death. As such while we've certainly identified a few causes of aging, and can even work to start treating some of them, there are plenty of others out there that can still age and kill you just fine on their own. It won't be until we've discovered, singled out, and treated the vast majority of those causes that we really start to see potential results.

Though I still hold out hope of it showing up in my lifetime since I'm still a fairly young whippersnapper, and worst case scenario there's always other ways to essentially "cheat" your death until we get the ability to bring you back like cryonics (or until the apocalypse crumbles human infrastructure enough to not be able to sustain your suspended animation chamber anymore ).

[Jimmy]

Pretty much, yeah. The ageing process is a multifactoral interplay between a variety of functions and body systems, many of which are still poorly understood. We don't currently have any medicine on the market that can mimic the body's natural healing process, for example, because it's just too complex to duplicate. The majority of medicines on the market actually achieve their effect by making things stop working, be it antibiotics to stop bacteria reproducing, antihypertensives to stop the narrowing of the blood vessels, or antidepressants to stop depletion of neurotransmitters. The rest are simply replacing the role of another naturally produced substance, such as insulin.

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." - Voltaire

[Rolepgeek]

If I remember right, while we don't have anything that can mimic the body's healing processes, we do have stuff that can stimulate, accelerate, or enable it. We don't need to understand it really well before we find something that works. We just have to know what works. And besides which, nanotechnology is advancing at a rapid pace; I'm of the opinion that within forty years, we'll have a pretty decent interface with micro scale objects.

Also, with advancing rates of technology, all we really need is stuff that will extend our lives until the next technology to do it appears, until we cover all our bases.

[Fniff]

So, this isn't quite about theoretical weapons, but it is about sci-fi things.

I'm developing a setting with self-replicating nanomachines. I did research on it and I know that the most efficient material for nanomachines is carbon harvested from the biosphere. This is a scenario where nanomachines are under control and without risk of ecophagy. However, they need to be supplied with material.

I was considering that corpses could be used as biomass. However, the society makes a lot of nanomachines and the death toll can't keep up with the demand.

What I am thinking is, the society creates 'farms' of genetically modifird creatures that are designed for two things only: self-sustaining reproduction and maximum biomass harvesting potential. It doesn't matter if they're stadium-size blobs of flesh as long as they can sustainably reproduce and give the nanomachines as much biomatter to work with as possible.

The questions I pose are, what would these farms look like? What would be the ideal lifeform for nanomachines to harvest the maximum amount of carbon from? And those this scenario make sense?

[GiglameshDespair]

Animals are inefficient compared to plants.

[Fniff]

That's good. I had a neat idea regarding plants in this setting. I was worried the most carbon-efficient creature is a really dull-looking bacteria.

That's the issue with real science. Sometimes it's rad. Then it's boring. And then it's rad when you thought it would be boring. And on it goes.

[Rolepgeek]

Crops?

Like, honestly, you're making this a bit too complicated, not to mention I'm not sure how many nanomachines you're needing to produce in a given time, or why there wouldn't eventually be a sort of nutrient slurry made from old broken down nanobots that just gets carted around. 'Biomass' just means matter made up of biological elements in formations often found in natural processes. All you really need to do is feed it food, or use carbon-sequestration plants or whatever. I means, if your nanomachines are pure carbon, all they really need is a carbon sequestration plant to recycle all the CO₂ that's put out, but I mean...you don't need flesh so much as you need grain. They're basically controllable cell sized or smaller than cell sized machines, that would operate a lot like organic cells, if I understand how it works in your setting correctly. Feed them as you would a complex organism. The materials involved are less significant than the energy required, really.

[Fniff]

Hrm... I like the idea of using old nanobots as the nutrient slurry. Nanomachine cannibalism.

As with the overcomplication, the reason is I'm trying to make the farms rather creepy. Hence fleshblobs. But perhaps I should simplify it. After all, the farms would be abandoned after the point where you can feed nanobots to nanobots. Abandoned farms can be pretty creepy, especially industrialized ones. If anyone has any creepy ideas on mixing what should be a pastorial setting with technology, I'd love to hear them.

[Rolepgeek]

Arcologies. Massive, multi-story, self-contained farm-cities, once filled with entire ecosystems, that used to churn out new nanobots and their material during the boom. The few nanobots left went native for a bit before dying out to little more than a new type of life, mostly in the form of symbiotic relationships with the existing wildlife. Often, these relationships involved mutations, but there isn't actually much left, plenty's corroded and aged before it's time as a result of the nanomachine 'rampage' in the first few years after it was shut down, sections of forest ecology have been reduced to desert or standing pools, much of the maintenance is run-down...

Sorta like nanopunk Bioshock or something, I suppose. They did do a rather good job of the 'creepy sci-fi society' setting.

Also, feeding nanobots to nanobots helps with the 'not gonna get out of control' bit.

[Fniff]

I like it. I imagine the farm arcologies would be bizarre to traverse. One moment you're in a forest, then you open a door in a tree and descend a ladder into an abandoned nanobot-manufacturing facility, then go through another door into a desert.

[Tack]

Heh. It's like stem cells. Really big moral issue right up until all the universities say "Actually... They're endlessly replicating, we can just make more in a Petri dish. We've got enough now, sorry about the fetus thing."

But I'm thinking genetically engineered chickens or something which grow on racks and are unable to move. Along with legs, eyes and feathers are also redundant. Many small blobs is much more inhumane/creepy IMO.

[Fniff]

The idea of racks upon racks of sad blobby noeyed chickens makes me very sad. Definitely going in the setting. Perhaps they wouldn't be used for carbon harvesting, due to plants being more efficient, but as material for foodmaking 3D printers.

[GiglameshDespair]

Hey, Fniff: have you ever read Monstrocity?
It was free when I got in on Amazon.

But it had a factory that grew modified animals for human/alien consumption - headless, boneless (except for chickens, so they still had chicken legs and wings to sell). Sort of sci-fi eldritch thing - it's reasonably dystopic, but not quite cyberpunk or anything like that. No nanomachines, far as I know, but if you want blobby, genetically engineered it's your book.

Might provide a bit of inspiration.
Warning: NSFW segments.

[Amperzand]

Question: Is it taking place in a society that has long-range space travel, or not? 'Cause that would change things.