A clanking replicator is an artificial self-replicating system that relies on conventional large-scale technology and automation. The term evolved to distinguish such systems from the microscopic "assemblers" that nanotechnology may make possible. They are also sometimes called "Auxons", from the Greek word auxein which means "to grow", or "von Neumann machines" after John von Neumann, who first rigorously studied the idea. This last term ("von Neumann machine") is less specific and also refers to a completely unrelated computer architecture proposed by von Neumann, so its use is discouraged where accuracy is important. Von Neumann himself used the term Universal Constructor.
The term clanking replicator was used by Drexler, is informal and is rarely used by others in popular or technical discussions.
Read more about Clanking Replicator: Basic Concept, History of The Concept, Clanking Replicators in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the word clanking:
“The chrysanthemums’ astringent fragrance comes
Each year to disguise the clanking mechanism
Of machine within machine within machine.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)