The end is coming

I knew this, of course, but now it's public, have a look: http://www.avinc.com/nano.

You'd want to make these a little smaller still, like 1/100th in every dimension, so you'd have a million of these occupying the same space as the specimen above.

A billion of them would likewise fit into a box ten times the dimensions of that prototype.

You could send it with FedEX.

And exterminate a continent, given you had the right poison.

And the right pattern recognition software.

How long until somebody builds it?

Stupid question, no? I doubt anybody would want to make it public though, this is certainly hint enough. Bad thing is of course that you can't trace the producer, if it ever would be used, all it would leave is a deserted area. Not much incentive not to use it then, right?

But the interesting part starts only after the deed. Will the perpetrators be able to trust each other not to use this anymore? Against each other? And if not, what will they do then? Or what would people do, who foresee all this? Today?

That was that. Enlightenment has reached its logical end. Fearing a mouse, it has fed itself to a lion.