Replicator

A replicator is a molecular assembler capable of creating almost anything. Raw materials are fed into a machine and then trillions of nanobots would take them apart molecule by molecule and then reassemble them into an entirely new product. This machine would be able to manufacture anything. The replicator would be the crowning achievement of engineering and science for Type I and could lead to an economic and social revolution.

Molecular assemblers do not violate the laws of physics, but they will be exceedingly difficult to build. The human body has over 50 trillion cells and in excess of 1026 atoms, requiring a colossal amount of memory just to store the locations of all these atoms. Also, quantum forces such as van der Waals forces, surface tension, the uncertainty principle, and the Pauli exclusion principle become dominant in the nanoworld.

One way to overcome this problem is by self-replicating nanobot that are capable of identifying molecules, cutting them up and reassembling these atoms into different arrangements. So the task of rearranging 1026 atoms is parallelized and reduced to making a similar number of nanobots, each one designed to manipulate individual atoms.

Early replicators are 3D printers that create realistic copies of any 3d object, ranging from toys to machine parts to entire buildings. At the next level, it is possible to use 3D printers to create living organs of the human body. MRI scanners might one day record the location of every atom of our body, with every pixel containing thousands of cells. A MRI-type machine with a resolution down to the size of a cell, and even smaller, one that can scan down to the individual molecules and atoms, would be possible.

Using these technologies, as well as exceedingly fast computers way beyond yottascale, with enormous amounts of storage, it would be possible for late Type I to build a replicator. The social impact of a fully functioning replicator could lead to a post-scarcity age.

In Star Trek the replicator uses matter-energy conversion technology to make almost anything except for complex or unstable molecular structures, for example dilithium used to regulate the warp core. Some people claimed to be able to tell the difference between replicated and "real" food because replicators work at the atomic level, not at the quantum level. Replicators are also very useful in spaceships as waste products are recycled into useful products.