"Grey Goo Man" warns nanotechnology could be like thalidomide

A MAN WHO is famous for planting a palm tree at Kew Gardens which was donated by Saudi Arabia has lashed out against nanotechnology, which he has described in a very learned broadsheet as possibly causing "similar upsets" as thalidomide or metal fatigue caused in the past.

According to yesterday's Independent on Sunday, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor, also known as the Prince of Wales, and the first heir to the throne ever to "earn" a university degree, has backed a boffin at Cambridge University who suggests that nanotechnology could pose untold dangers in the future.

He said in the article that he doesn't fear grey goo, has never used that term, and he doesn't believe that self replicating robots will devour our planet.

He says the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering are conducting a joint study on nanotechnology which will help separate the facts from the science friction.

He reckons that we probably know less about nanoscales than De Havilland knew about metal fatigue. But we reckon that Intel and AMD know more about nanotechnology than he does. And that the self-replicating robots devouring the planet probably work for search engines and use nanoscale semiconductors to propagate. µ

L'INQ
Prince of Wales' web site
Grey goo