I need a word

[james_davis_nicoll]

I was watching last week's @discovery.ca shows, set in Japan. One interesting item they showed was a colonial robot, a system made up of many small robotic units that could link and swap information, then re-arrange the community shape and alter their behavior to meet the colony's needs, sort of a crude analog to chondrophorines. The units are pretty big, about the size of a match-box.

It seems to me that smaller units, much smaller (although still large enough to use mechanical links and not chemical) could be an interesting material to make clothing from. I'm not sure what to call the material. Not smart-cloth, because I'd willing bet "smart" will be as overused in the future as "new and improved" was in the past.

Comments

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Linkmail

[wdstarr.livejournal.com]

"Adolescent Male Script Kiddie's Dream?" Just wait until a suitably attractive female comes along wearing the stuff, and then send the properly encoded 'diasssemble' command on your cell phone...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I think the robots require contact to send information but there has to be a user-interface for this to be useful, so yes, security is an issue.

But that's even better...

[(Anonymous)]

Adolescent male bumps into attrctive female wearing it, and it all falls apart, possibly after a few seconds to give AM time to not be the obvious cause.

Or perhaps a dart or something similar could be thrown that would latch on, ask it to disassemble, and there you go.

One imagines it in a James Bond film.

Re: But that's even better...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Only a doofus leaves the password of their clothing on the factory default.

Now, I happen to know for alarm systems, about one in four owners never bothers to reset the alarm code...

Re: But that's even better...

[j-shelbourne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but most people will use the same password for everything.

That "Vote Cthulhu, the lesser of two evils" button? It interrogates the clothing to find the password, then radios it when requested.

Phishing takes on a whole new dimension.

Remember: If they can get you naked, they can hack your offshore accounts.

[nexstarman.livejournal.com]

They call it Daily Planet now... I'm just a pedant.