I don’t think “controlled environment” cuts off all grey goo concerns. Imagine a diamond box, one micrometer across. Inside the box is atomically precise nanomanufacturing environment. On the outside, little robot arms grab ambient atoms and feed them into input ports. The input ports are designed to only let specific molecular groups through. One port only accepts water and nothing else.
Inside the box, a flat pack version of the whole machine is assembled. Once manufacture is completed, an exit port opens up, and the flat pack pops out without any atoms being allowed in. The flat pack pops up, and replication is complete.
The small controlled environment could be very small indeed, and this allows grey goo.
I don’t think “controlled environment” cuts off all grey goo concerns. Imagine a diamond box, one micrometer across. Inside the box is atomically precise nanomanufacturing environment. On the outside, little robot arms grab ambient atoms and feed them into input ports. The input ports are designed to only let specific molecular groups through. One port only accepts water and nothing else.
Inside the box, a flat pack version of the whole machine is assembled. Once manufacture is completed, an exit port opens up, and the flat pack pops out without any atoms being allowed in. The flat pack pops up, and replication is complete.
The small controlled environment could be very small indeed, and this allows grey goo.