www:

https://sites.google.com/a/replikon.net/www/home

"


Welcome to Replikon Research

The Mysteries of Reproduction
and the Magic of Technology Combined
in Singly-Closed Self-Reproducing Machine Tools
for a Distributed Manufacturing Infrastructure



You need two of everything to make one of anything.

That is--putting references to the nature of DNA and the fact most of
us have two hands aside--to gain universal manufacturing capability,
it is necessary and sufficient to have one "spare" instance of every
item in a self-reproducing universal factory or machine tool,
including each machine tool, and every nut and bolt, so that each tool
can, if needed, first operate or be involved in operating on a copy of
itself, which modifies the copy. The copy can operate on the original,
allowing for self-upgrade, self-modification, and self-reproduction in
a universal factory.

This is because machine tools make and are composed of machine parts.
Usually, they are operated by people, who themselves are universal
self-reproducing "makers of things". Machine tool input, structure,
and output are all the same thing: machine parts, made of metal,
usually. Machine tool function is different; all machines convert
force, energy, and power from one impedance to another to fulfill a
purpose. It is entirely possible you have never seen a machine tool;
it's almost certain you've seen and used machines.

Computers are different. Computers manufacture and use their own
software, but computers are made of both hardware and sofware. Since
the hardware component of a computer is not self-reproducing, a
computer is not a universal factory. It's more like a fancy printing
press, able to copy a Bible, a book, a CD or DVD, or an arbitrary
snippet of code or text, and distribute it to other computers.

A self-reproducing milling machine sold from the Want Ad in the
Washington D.C., area as such for $300, about twice the cost of parts,
on 24 October, 1997. ( 1997-10-24 ) Toward the goal of machine tool
self-reproduction, Replikon Research combined two of each identical
drill press, collet indexer, four-jaw chuck, and cross vise of
inexpensive Chinese cast iron and steel design and manufacture,
marketed one copy of the resulting four-axis universal milling machine
under the heading "self-reproducing machine tool" in a local
classified advertising publication, sold it to an enthusiastic
craftsman, and documented the transaction as representative of a new
business model of small, self-reproducing machine shops selling
themselves for double the cost their of "vitamin parts". (1),(2) No
"gray goo" will spread across the world uncontrolled from this
beginning; small factories lacking energy and control closure are
doubly-redundant in their resistance to uncontrolled growth. They are
safe by design. (3) (4)

This business model, in a world marked by the losses and associated
griefs of the 2001-09-11 attacks and terrorist action worldwide,
offers society the advantage of a distributed infrastructure which is
resistant to terrorist attack, so Replikon Research maintains with the
U.S. Federal government Central Contractor Registry an updated
registration as a for-profit small business entity capable of
delivering this technology at any time it should be requested.
Replikon-dot-net is an outgrowth of that registration.

"Safety, comfort, and fun." Those are the watchwords in any
manufacturing shop. Craftspeople cannot have fun if they are not
comfortable, and nobody can feel comfortable if they do not feel safe.
Too many people today do not feel safe, but with a distributed
infrastructure, we can all feel safer. In a truly "post-9/11" world,
we'd all have integrated the experience and the losses of horrifying
magnitude into our awareness and so, be aware of how they affect us.
We'd be over it, and on to the next challenge, but we are not in such
a world, not yet. Much remains to be done.

Suffering is optional. Short of a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,
compassion and nonattachment can do much to alleviate suffering,
because all personal and societal discomfort is based on and
proportional to the difference between the way things are and the way
people think or a person thinks they should be. However, without some
notion that our world is not the way it should be, no progress can or
would ever be made. Even the notion that suffering is optional is
something of a paradox; does it mean that suffering is a bad thing,
and that we should move to alleviate it? To believe so is to accept
the presence in your life of a kind of meta-suffering that can never
be alleviated.

A replikon is a self-reproducing univeral factory, machine tool, or
machine tool work cell providing a benefit to a human population.
Replikon Research researches replikons. That much is clear. Beyond
those two points, as you have just read, or perhaps heard if you are
using a screen reader, much remains to be done.

The moon phase and IP address gadgets placed at the start of this text
symbolized when written on 2007-02-27 the mysteries of reproduction (a
largely female principle; in humans, it is related to moon phase) and
the magic of technology (a largely male principle; as an image of the
sun, appearing as magic when misunderstood) which combine to produce
self-reproducing machine tools. The gadgets stopped working; you might
try a wayback machine to recover an earlier version.

This domain (replikon dot net) is administered by Doug Goncz, the
owner of Replikon Research. )

A discussion group is available to LinkedIn members at:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=43923

Doug's Supporting Member profile at AASECT, which does not list or
imply any therapeutic certification, refers obliquely to the link
between magic and technology; between reproductive energies and
impulses and manufacturing.

(c) 2009 Replikon Research, Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394 All rights
reserved

References:

(1) Robert A. Freitas Jr., Ralph C. Merkle, Kinematic Self-Replicating
Machines, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 2004
http://www.molecularassembler.com/KSRM/3.12.htm "Evidently Doug Goncz
[1028] “constructed a self-reproducing machine tool and sold it for
$300 in 1997. The machine incorporated its own reproduction template,
a drill jig made from 3/8 cold rolled steel. An image of this device
was still available online in 2003 [1029]." (The image is no longer
available; the host, users.aol.com, has been shut down.)


Regards,

Douglas (Dana) Goncz, CPS
Experimental Machinist
Peer Specialist
Replikon Research
Seven Corners, VA 22044-0394
Now in Old Town Alexandria

http://reprap.org/wiki/WebHome

--
"Steamboat Ed" Haas : A human without a critter
Hacking the Trailing Edge! : is incomplete..
www.nmpproducts.com
---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

On Sep 3, 12:47*pm, steamer wrote:
* * * *http://reprap.org/wiki/WebHome

--
* * * * "Steamboat Ed" Haas * * * * : *A human without a critter *
* * * * Hacking the Trailing Edge! *: *is incomplete..
* * * * * * * * * * * * *www.nmpproducts.com
* * * * * * * * * *---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Not a machine tool. Not a classical machine, either. Does not solely
transmute mechanical force from one impedance to another for a
purpose. Is an electromechanical machine. Is not controlled directly
by people, who are self-replicating. Is controlled by hardware,
firmware, and software, which, since a universal computer has not yet
been built, are not self-replicating. Is not self-replicating. \

Makes plastic Army men and other novelties.

Been there, did that.

(Ouch?)

Doug