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On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 19:04 -0700, Beto Cruz wrote: > one very noticeable distinction between organic life > forms and the devices created by technologic processes > is that organisms have cells, and artifacts have > parts. what are the biomimetic projects that > incorporate the idea of designing unnespecified > mechanic cells, and assembling complex constructs out > of them? Cells have parts too, and those parts are generally bundles of protein such as ion channels and the motors that power cilia. Each protein is in turn a large-scale molecular machine. Other molecular-scale cellular machines use RNA & DNA. In short, our perception of cells as 'special' simply emerges from the fact that we have not yet developed sufficient technology to take on all their functions and complexities. This does not mean that we will not, and there seems to be no credible obstacle in the way of achieving that level of technology. In point of fact, several different ways already seem quite plausible. It has only recently been practical to make automata of one kind deliberately form variable three-dimensional configurations. It won't be long before two or more forms mingle, and form larger colonial components with differentiated functions. At that point, they become a much closer analogy to an organism. Vik :v) -- Vik Olliver <[log in to unmask]> Diamond Age Solutions Ltd.