Roland gently lowered the small submarine into the water, shoving it away from the bank. It joined the stream of the river, rapidly gaining pace as the current swept it along.
By tomorrow it would be far out to sea, powered by its auto-winding watch mechanisms, solar cells, what electrical current it could glean from the ocean and a small wind generator, all guided by a small but powerful computer.
The device was designed to extract minerals from the seawater in which it travelled, drawing dissolved metals and other chemicals in through the ports at the front of the vessel, converting them into electronic circuitry and components and expelling water through the back in a tiny jet.
Plastic bags and other plastic flotsam and jetsam were already being processed, to be formed into a hull identical to the vessel's own. Within four months there would be two new vessels to take its place and the original could be cannibalised to make part of the next generation of models; in twelve months there would be eight, in five years there would be 32768, in ten years just over a billion of them.
Ocean pollution was going to be a thing of the past. Self-replicating smart technology held out great promise.-- UnaBubba, Nov 11 2008 Similar to Self Replicating Spaceships http://www.answers....craft#wp-Berserkers...except they're submarines. Note the Berserker model. [quantum_flux, Nov 11 2008] The sea is then polluted with a billion little subs...
Seriously - is there a way to break down all this plastic? And can you do anything with the results?-- wagster, Nov 11 2008 Nice - until the seas become filled with them - at which point we might need the services of some kind of anti anti-plastic submarine submarine...[edit - what wags said]
But no, the concept I definitely like - a sort of artificial whale that sifts plastic-krill and gestates a baby version of itself while it does so. Genius.
The practicalities are a little trickier - e.g. how to distinguish between true krill, and bits of plastic?-- zen_tom, Nov 11 2008 It's just a shame that it's currently impossible. I can't help but think there's a solution to the problem if we bakers all put our minds to it. Longshot will probably figure it out with another sensible "leverage x to do y" idea, whilst the rest of us are building imaginary nanosubs in our mental sheds.-- wagster, Nov 11 2008 I stayed away from nano-tech, just because it's misunderstood crap, most of the time. The concept of a machine that self-replicates is not a new one, though it still suffers practical limitations on the technology side, as yet.
I toyed with the idea of making each new generation smaller than the last, physically, to bring about a point of self-limitation. I couldn't figure out the point at which size became impractical.-- UnaBubba, Nov 11 2008 Make each generation bigger than the last. That way, the pollution is concentrated into a few large subs, rather than many small ones.-- FishFinger, Nov 11 2008 Could work, but the idea of making them smaller means a sheltered workspace inside the "mother" ship would be available.-- UnaBubba, Nov 11 2008 One faulty replication and then you could have an Oceanic Berserker!-- quantum_flux, Nov 11 2008 Creates Oceanic Berserkers (+)-- Voice, Nov 11 2008 Man them. It helps the self replication, while serving as a habtiat for humanity at the same time. Wehn the next craft is finished, fly some more people over to inhabit it.-- Selky, Aug 18 2009 What are these ocean-going conscripts going to eat? Seagulls get a little tiring to the palate, I believe.-- UnaBubba, Aug 18 2009 halfbakery