[splittingTimes]

"a system of solar-powered machines that would autonomously harvest raw materials from common dirt, use them to build more machines, and then perform useful tasks such as sucking carbon out of the atmosphere. The replico-bots didn’t pan out, because—well, do I really need to explain?"

Back in the early 90ies, i can see that, but today/in 20 years it does not sound too ridiculous. Or am I missing something?

[lisper]

No one has ever built a self-contained self-replicating hardware system. It's incredibly hard. It's also incredibly dangerous because if it actually works you have effectively built a competing life form.