We're Doomed -- Robots can reproduce

[CalMeacham]

This – THIS! – is the reason Victor Frankenstein refused to build a Bride for Frankenstein. Biological “robots” are now capable of reproduction

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/americas/xenobots-self-replicating-robots-scn/index.html

The US scientists who created the first living robots say the life forms, known as xenobots, can now reproduce – and in a way not seen in plants and animals.

Formed from the stem cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which it takes its name, xenobots are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide. The tiny blobs were first unveiled in 2020 after experiments showed that they could move, work together in groups and self-heal.

Now the scientists that developed them at the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering said they have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction different from any animal or plant known to science.

“I was astounded by it,” said Michael Levin, a professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University who was co-lead author of the new research.

“Frogs have a way of reproducing that they normally use but when you … liberate (the cells) from the rest of the embryo and you give them a chance to figure out how to be in a new environment, not only do they figure out a new way to move, but they also figure out apparently a new way to reproduce.”

Of course they try to reassure us…

While the prospect of self-replicating biotechnology could spark concern, the researchers said that the living machines were entirely contained in a lab and easily extinguished, as they are biodegradable and regulated by ethics experts.

…but we’ve seen this movie before. The dinosaurs spontaneously change sex. One Alien tears the other apart and uses its acid blood to eat through the walls. Calvin the Martian slips into the conduits and escapes the lab.

I, for one, welcome our Pac Man-shaped Overlords.

[snowthx]

Wait. What was the date Skynet first becomes self-aware?

[kenobi_65]

Do you want Cylons? Because this is how you get Cylons!!

[Maus_Magill]

How many steps away from Grey Goop are we now?

[Pleonast]

Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling.

[Love_Rhombus]

Time for a remake of The Stuff.

[CalMeacham]

@Pleonast

Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling.

No doubt you’d prefer something like John Sladek’s Mechasm/The Reproductive System

MECHASM by John T. Sladek on Robert Gavora Fine and Rare Books

Tentatively, Convenience's review of Mechasm

Reproductive System – John T. Sladek – Adventure House

From Wikipedia:

His first science fiction novel, published in London by Gollancz as The Reproductive System and in the United States as Mechasm , dealt with a project to build machines that build copies of themselves, a process that gets out of hand and threatens to destroy humanity.

[CalMeacham]

@Pleonast

Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling.

I note that these items are referenced in the Wikipedia page “Self Replicating Machines”, so it’s not all media hype.

Self-replicating machine

[Czarcasm]

You want doomed?
I know someone that is trying to breed cats with high intelligence and opposable thumbs.

[Two_Many_Cats2]

How is this not just another form of cloning? Is the whole thing that you can supposedly program future xenobots to follow instructions? How is that different from training a domestic animal to do chores?

[Pleonast]

Fiction writers should use whatever words they like, but journalists should avoid words with connotations that will deceive their audience. This news is interesting enough without a deceptive use of “robot”. (I know it’s far too late to stop clickbaiting, but it’s still wrong. And this isn’t at all directed at you; I’m glad you posted the link.)

[Icarus]

@Pleonast

but journalists should avoid words with connotations that will deceive their audience.

You funny.

[mbh]

There is a meme floating around the internet about condoms being manufactured by automated machines.
So: robots are actively preventing humans from reproducing.

Now, CalMeacham finds this item.

It’s a conspiracy!

[Two_Many_Cats2]

@Czarcasm

I know someone that is trying to breed cats with high intelligence and opposable thumbs .

Fine by me. Let them open their own damn cans of Fancy Feast.

[Chronos]

It’s not a robot in any sense. It’s a cell culture. Cell cultures reproduce. It’s what they do; that’s old news.

I’m sure that the scientists working on these things have reason to be excited, but whatever reason that is, they utterly failed to convey it to the journalists who wrote the story.

[CalMeacham]

What’s different about this, apparently, is that the cells are reproducing in an extremely weird and different way. They’re not simply dividing or conjugating or doing any of the usual things that constitute reproduction. What they’re doing is even stranger than the creature that reproduces by expelling its digestive tract.
I gather that this behavior was determined by whatever was done to culture these cells, essentially “programming” it, which is why the publicity refers to them as “robots”.

To say that these are just a cell culture reproducing , and that’s what cells do, is to pretty much miss the point, which is conveyed pretty well in the news releases.

[Jackmannii]

This could bring a whole new meaning to the term “invasive exotics”.

For now, I’m more concerned about what’s reproducing in my shower stall.