I can see it now: just get the enemy to breathe in a cloud of nanobots, or have the bots enter their body through an open cut that they make, and the enemy’s body is yours: no violence needed.

We live in a terrifying time because there’s just no way to dodge this sort of stuff unless you have the EMP tech, since a Hazmat suit is unsustainable to don long-term.

EDIT: No, I didn’t watch anything! I’ve been reading about how nanobots are currently being used in the medical field to clear plaque from arteries, so I have simply been chugging with that train of thought in a more nefarious direction…

  • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zipEnglish
    42·
    2 days ago

    Wait until you hear about viruses or prions. Truly terrifying nanobots. Worst of all, they already exist. Those things are out there right now.

    • ranzispa@mander.xyz
      2·
      19 hours ago

      Chemical weapons appear as a much better option than viruses. Enemy is there, drop a nervine agent and everyone is dead. Wait for a while and you’re free to advance.

      Viruses in much more difficult to operate: infect someone somehow - I guess a bomb or something like that could be used as well. Wait several months so that enemy actually gets infected on large scale, but not too long because most of them won’t be dying anyway and soon back to battlefield. In the meantime vaccinate the whole of your invasion army. Start producing massive quantities of vaccines just in case it spreads to your own country somehow and you’ll have to treat your own population.

      Assuming you were able to create both the virus and the vaccine within the period the war lasted, it may give you some bit of advantage during a period of 1/2 months or something like that. Good enough if you’re able to win the war in such period, but if you’ve got that kind of money to spend I’m sure you’ve got way more efficient options.

      • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1·
        16 hours ago

        Yep. Bio weapons are terrible in every way. Now that RNA vaccines are in production, making new vaccines just got a whole lot faster.

    • TheFeatureCreature@lemmy.caEnglish
      201·
      2 days ago

      Prions are absolutely wild. There is no cure, no “vaccine” - not that that would even be possible because they’re not viruses, bacteria, or even living things from outside your body. They’re just a faulty version of something that already exists in your system and they make your body self-destruct.

      • sircac@lemmy.world
        2·
        1 day ago

        There have never been enough concerns to be worth to develop a vaccine for a prion, and current used techniques are those for being efficient for their targets, but as far as I know prions are just proteins and proteins can be (and are) targeted, the whole immunitarie system often relies on those…

      • TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zipEnglish
        15·
        2 days ago

        Prime horror movie material.

        You trust your body. You trust your mind. But what if the enemy… is already inside you?

        They’re not viruses. They’re not bacteria. They’re your own proteins… twisted. Hungry.

        They hide in the folds of your brain. They wait in the silence of your cells. And when they strike… you won’t even know you’re already lost.

        PRIONS

        COMING TO AN ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM NEAR YOU

      • XiELEd@piefed.socialEnglish
        71·
        2 days ago

        If a plausible zombie virus were to exist, it would definitely be those long-incubating stuff