"Gray goo" is a hypothetical scenario often discussed in the context of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. It refers to a potential future disaster in which self-replicating nanobots consume all available matter on Earth while replicating themselves, leading to a catastrophic environment filled with a homogenous, gray mass of nanomachines. The concept was popularized by nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his 1986 book "Engines of Creation.
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