n-sf: Nanotechnology in Science Fiction #22

Phillip Thorne (thorphi@marcam.com)
Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:57:32 -0400 (EDT)

TNG 3.01 Evolution
*** mm

	Wesley is experimenting with "nanites", nanotechnic robots 
        designed         to enter cell nuclei for medical purposes, to 
        see if they can cooperate to improve their behavior.  He falls
        asleep and his two test subjects escape their container.  
        Embarrassed, he starts placing Roach Motel(tm)-like traps 
        around the ship, but by then they've found their way to the 
        computer core and are replicating, consuming the isolinear 
        chips and developing a hive intelligence.  Dr. ???, a prominent
        astrophysicist, is skeptical of the crew's findings of the new 
        nanite life form.  He tells them he's seen the factory where 
        nanites are manufactured; they're just machines!  Desperate to
        regain computer control in time to complete his life's study a 
        nearby neutron star, ??? kills some of the nanites using a 
        gamma pulse.  They respond by taking over the ship.

	Eventually, Data opens communication with the new intelligence.
        He allows some of them to enter and interface with his systems
        (as they were originally designed to do), so that he can be 
        used as a communications channel.  ??? apologizes, an agreement
        is reached, and the nanites rebuild the computer in time to 
        launch ???'s probe.  Finally, ??? uses his influence to have a 
        barren asteroid designated the new nanite homeworld.  "This 
        ship is -- too confining.  We require -- relocation."

TNG 4.01 The Best of Both Worlds, Part II
** mm

	While discussing possible strategems against the Borg, Dr. 
        Crusher proposes using their "recent experience with 
        nanotechnology" to breed a form of nanite to attach the Borg 
        collective.  The development would take two to three weeks, 
        however.

TNG 7.01 Descent, Part II
** mm?

	Data's brother, Lore, has been experimenting with converting 
        newly individual Borg into fully artificial lifeforms.  He 
        convinces Data to join in the experiments, and to inject 
        "nanofibers" into Geordi's brain.  These fibers will learn to
        emulate his neural firing patterns, leading to a marked 
        increase in cognitive ability -- if he survives.

Star Trek Generations
** mm?

	In the course of his interrogation of LaForge, Dr.Soran injects
        a "nanoprobe" into his heart.  Upon his return to the 
        Enterprise-D, Dr.Crusher removes it.
	

DS9 1.8 The Passenger
** mm

	An infamous Kobliad scientist is being transported as a 
        prisoner, when he stages his own apparent demise and transfers 
        his consciosness to Dr. Bashir.  The instrumentality used is a
        microscopic (probably nanotech) electrical generator under his
        fingernail, which during physical contact impresses a 
        copy of his mental patterns onto Dr. Bashir's glial cells.

DS9 1.12 Battle Lines
*** mm?

	Sisko, Bashir, Kira are persuaded to take Kai Opaka through the
        Celestial Temple into the Gamma Quadrant, where they're forced 
        to crash on a barren moon by its system of weapons satellites -
        - and the Kai is killed.  There they find a colony of prisoners
        from opposing sides of an ancient war, still fighting and 
        killing each other -- each time to be reborn.  
	Dr.Bashir discovers that microscopic machines, "almost like 
        nanites", infest the moon.  They're designed to rejuvenate the 
        dead, so that their torturous prison stay can continue 
        indefinitely.  Kai Opaka is also reborn by the devices, and 
        when the others are rescued, she elects to stay with the 
        prisoners and work with them to overcome their hatred.
 

DS9 2.13 Armageddon Game
** b?

	Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien are assisting a Gamma Quadrant 
        civilization in safely destroying a (biological?) weapon known
        as the "Harvesters."  Once the weapons are destroyed, the 
        rulers decide to eliminate anyone who knows how to construct 
        them, too.

DS9 (2.24, The Collaborator ?)
** ?

	Major Kira is reluctant to allow Vedek Winn off the station, to
        return to her political machinations on Bajor.  She insists 
        that Winn's ship must be scanned for any weapons or contraband,
        including "a molecular scan for dangerous nanotechnology."  She
        admits she's no expert, but the scan could take weeks.

_Federation_
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
*** mm

	At some time prior to the TOS era, an alien race called the 
        Grigari offered "eternal life to the worlds of the Federation"
        with their medical nanotechnology.  It was found to be 
        hideously flawed; the machine-organic connection was imperfect,
        so the machines continually moved forward, replacing necrotic 
        tissue with steel.  The Grigari departed, but a quadraleptic 
        Colonel Adrik Thorsen, obsessed with revenge on Zefram Cochrane
        , seeks them out. By 2270, Thorsen is barely human, with arms 
        that subdivide (as with a Moravec bush robot) into the 
        nanometer realm, and the ability to dispatch subunits to 
        infiltrate Starfleet computers and archives.
	Other references in the novel:
	By 2078, the new human extrasolar colonies were developing 
        specialities, such as "molecular computer farms" in Wolf 359's
        Stapledon Center.  When the Enterprise-D acquires an apparent 
        Preserver artifact with complex mathematical diagrams engraved
        in it, Picard is reminded of recordings on early Terran space 
        probes: analog audio and video disks, then diffraction bars, 
        and finally "molecular bristle tubes."  Data and  Wesley probe 
        the inscriptions with "elaborate molecular probes," and Wesley
        suggests creating a specialized form of nanite to examine its 
        interior.

TOS _Crossroads_
???
** mm?

	In the future, "the plague" rips through the Federation and 
        other civilizations.  A corporate group called Starfield 
        develops "wiring," a form of "non-ferrous nanotechnology" that
        interfaces with the spinal cord and psionic centers of the 
        brain, controlling the disease.  When damaged, wiring regrows 
        its fibers, drawing minerals from the blood.  Starfield evolves
        into The Consilium, an ostensibly peaceful company that in 
        reality controls Starfleet and the Federation via the wiring 
        of officers and officials.  Rebels escape into the past through
        the spatial anomaly known as the Crossroads, and encounter Capt.
        Kirk and the _Enterprise_.  They don't know exactly who, but the
        person whose work led to wiring and Starfield is onboard, and
        they mean to stop him.

TNG _Vendetta_
Peter David
** mm

	Several months after "The Best of Both Worlds", the Borg have
        returned to Federation space, more cautiously and with additional
        ships.  Geordi is astonished when Riker tells him that the
        Federation Council has assigned legal advocates to the Nanites,
        so they're no longer available as weapons.  In defense of the
        decision, Riker references the recent legal decision that Data
        was an independent life form with self-determination ("The
        Measure of a Man"), and that the Borg could possibly even
        assimilate the Nanites' abilities.

TNG _Dark Mirror_
Diane Duane
** mm

	The Mirror Universe introduced in the TOS episode "Mirror Mirror"
        is preparing to invade us.  Captain Picard manages to infiltrate
        the mirror-Enterprise-D.  He acquires a poorly-guarded container
        of non-sentient nanites from their Sickbay, and programs them to
        search out and slowly consume their computer core.

Project G.eeK.eR
(First broadcast 9/21/1996)
*** mm

	Geeker, Lady MacBeth and Noah escape to Space Station Zebra.
        Zebra maintains its independence from Moloch-dominated Earth
        using its "nanosynthesizer", a device that consumes cosmic dust,
        converts it to elementary particles, then reconstructs them into
        food, clothing and machinery.
	Moloch sends "Larry," an artificially-engineered intelligent
        strain of the common cold, to take over the refugees on Zebra
        and recapture Geeker.  In fact, all Larry wants is to exist
        without the need to infect host bodies.  Geeker happily obliges
        by dividing himself into billions of tiny duplicates to construct
        a micro-city for the Larry germs, complete with a tiny
        nanosynthesizer.
	Geeker and company flee Zebra to lead away Moloch's space forces.
        Larry comes to their aid with thousands of tiny nano-manufactured
        space battleships.  Moloch's forces depart when Geeker apparently
        surrenders himself -- actually a (non-nano) decoy duplicate.  He,
        Becky and Noah depart, and Zebra is left secure.


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Appendix 4 - Foreign Language Section (non-English)

[Foreign language entries are OK *if* you send me the text to be included _verbatim_. An English translation of the title would be nice. Note that this list is represented in standard 7-bit (128 character) ASCII. -ASN]


++  Danish                                ++
============================================

"Den perfekte verden" (The perfect world) "Udkig" (Outlook) no. 3, 1985
Arne Herlov Petersen

"N{ste kasse til Singapore" (Next box to Singapore) "Udkig" no. 4, 1988
Arne Herlov Petersen

"Haabet er groent" (Hope is green)
collection, 1991
Arne Herlov Petersen



++ Lem, Stanislaw 1921-, Polish writer. ++

Can someone please clarify which of his books have been translated into English, and, if the subject matter is plain biology, micro machine or "nano a la Drexler". One book that has been mentioned is Peace on Earth, English version C1994.