It’s interesting to compare these figures to the total metabolic energy output of all humans, estimated by Robert Freitas at 1012 watts, and that of all vegetation on Earth, at 1014 watts. Freitas also estimates that the amount of energy we could produce and use without disrupting the global energy balance required to maintain current biological ecology (referred to by climatologists as the “hypsithermal limit”) is around 1015 watts. This would allow a very substantial number of nanobots per person for intelligence enhancement and medical purposes, as well as other applications, such as
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