N – Nanites: the Next Generation

N – Nanites: the Next Generation

Did you ever dream that you were in a movie you’d just seen? Or you are in a movie that you saw ages ago? Combine that dream with an imaginative mind and sense of adventure and you have my latest wish: To be a transportable nanite in a living organism. My wish is not to re-enact the movie but to be put in a similar environment. 

For those of you that don’t know what a nanite is, it is another term for nanobot, which is A very small autonomous robot, typically the size of a biological cell, designed to work alone or in very large numbers to achieve some task. 

Two movies that come to mind, which didn’t involve nanites, but did involve shrinking someone or something to a microscopic level are “Fantastic Voyage” (1966) where a scientist is nearly assassinated and a submarine filled with scientists and doctors is shrunk and injected into the ailing scientist’s body to cure him, and the movie “InnerSpace” (1987) where Dennis Quaid is shrunk and instead of being injected into a rabbit, he accidentally gets injected into Martin Short and lots of adventures follow. 

Imagine how much you could learn about science if you were actually inside the subject that you were studying. You want to know how the brain works, this way seems a lot more productive than probes and an MRI. You could move to and from different parts of the brain and follow neural pathways. You could better understand the functions and parts of different organs in a living body. Even in a dead body, your autopsies would be much more reliable. 

Think of how you might be able to discover cures for diseases or mental illnesses. Your little nanite self would not only be able to collect data but also initiate repairs. Personally, I think being able to do that would be very cool. 

How about using nanite-you in a witness protection plan. You are reduced to a nanite and hidden away in a secure person or animal instead of a safe house. 

The more I dream of this idea and think about its potential, the more real it becomes to me. 

My latest dream involves me being a nanite in my own body that I can communicate with from outside my body and direct to look out for me. 

• “Nanite-me, schedule me for a 10-minute nap and make sure all my vitals are appropriately replenished.” 
• “Nanite-me, remind me about calling my son at 4:00 and reduce the guilt response.” 
• “Nanite-me, when I’m playing softball today, pay attention to where I want to hit the ball and adjust my swing accordingly.”
• “Nanite-me, I would like to surprise my wife with a romantic dinner tonight, please signal her nanite privately to please reduce all her anxiety and frustration levels prior to coming home and maintain the appropriate pheromones I exude on her arrival. “

Now I’m sure that a lot of you out there have a different opinion on the use of nanites in this fashion. There are of course ethical and moral issues with this ability. Invasion of privacy, the right to be who you want to be, culpability should something go wrong with what you do, to name a few. I’m sure lawyers will make a bundle, should this ever come to pass. And it should be noted that nanites in science fiction shows and movies seem to always wreak havoc.

However, to all you nay-sayers, this is my dream. I think it would be a fun way to use nanites. Feel free to wish or dream your own ways to use or not use them.