Digital weapons in 40k are sorta like that. lol

 

digital weapons are just compact versions of devices.

To clarify- nanotechnology as I am meaning it is the technology of building microscopic machines that can work in concert to manipulate matter on a molecular or even atomic scale. building something (or taking it apart) atom by atom. Sending tiny attack drones to target and destroy cancer cells, ect.

 

Doesn't that defy science on a very basic level? I mean, what would you even build them out of? Steel at an atomic level is just ... atoms, right?

 

but even if that existed, wouldn't it of been lost in the Age of Strife? like nearly everything else?

 

I would imagine, barring the physics defying powers of the C'tan gods, that the Necron necrodermis is probably based on nano-tech. The self-building/self-repair ability for nano-technology has been around since its infancy.

 

I think it'd be lost in the age of strife (GW's ''catch all'' excuse for new technologies), but if it wasn't, i reckon it'd be used for medical purposes much like they are today (poisons are alot more efficient in killing than producing millions of mini-bots designed to screw you around).

 

Nanotechonology would be in the advanced bloodstream of the Marines and in their advanced digestive systems, enabling them to get rid of poisons and digest anything and also the systems that monitor their life signs would most likely be using nano tech as well.

I'd just like to throw in that I think we're developing STC's already
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing

 

There was a nice fluff piece in WD where Relicors jumped some IG outpost to steal chaos relics. The officer had his face melted off but then he had new skin grown and grafted on. You could imply the use of nano-tech here without explicitly saying. Also SM metabolisms could imply the same implementation as Malus Darkblade said.

Nano tech could have make a nice difference to Tallarn, only killing humans, and not turning it into a desert.

 

I guess that nanotech is used without much specific comment.

In one of the Shira Calpurnia novels, the title character is attacked by a swarm of all-consuming insect devices that sounds like a macro-scale grey goo weapon- such a system might very well use nanotech on some level.

 

OK. Everyone again missed the question I asked. I did not ask: find examples of nanotech in 40k I asked. "If 40k was being written today for the first time what role would nanotechnology play in the Imperium?"

 

If 40K was written today for the first time, I'd imagine nanotechnology would play the same role in the Imperium as it currently does.

Or it'd just be used the same way all sci-fi settings use it. Magical cures. Cybernetic implants. Crazy haircuts.

 

Nanotech in 40k

If you like Sci-Fi and nanotech, you have to read "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson.

The scariest thing about nanotech, in my opinion, would be massive swarms of nearly invisible, self-replicating dust consuming all forms of carbon. It would be an all-consuming, unstoppable cloud unleashed on a world to strip it of all life. When all the carbon was consumed, the clouds would just run out of energy (unless they were photosynthetic, which would be a bad idea) and stop working, leaving a pristine, habitable planet completely devoid of life.

Unfortunately for 40k fans, this would be such an ultimate weapon, especially if the clouds could discern DNA or some identifying charachteristics of targets, that all other forms of combat would be rendered completely useless-- except against Chaos Daemons of course! Sort of like the ultimate Destroyer Plague-- Nurgle wins!

In terms of 40k, I think that nanotechnology makes the whole use of close combat weapons make a lot more sense. Today, you cant just use a sword against a tank, but with nanovibrating (I made that word up), powered weapons you could cut through anything.

 

I think the weapon described above (the so-called "gray goo scenario") aptly describes the Life Eater Virus weapon used to commit exterminatus. It's worth pointing out that Life Eater, despite its appellation, has virtually no traits that are consistent with an actual virus, but several traits consistent with a nanoweapon that could be thought of as "virus-like" in its virulence, adaptability, and self-replicating functions.

Limitations to nanotech that can explain its rather subdued use in 40k are difficulties in distributed intelligence and signal processing, power density, and heat exchange. Some of these limitations are pretty fundamental, which is why Diamond Age-type devices don't show up in "hard" sci-fi as much as they used to. Not that 40k is within shouting distance of "hard." Some of the limitations in question are discussed here.

 

Good points, but...

I still like the Grey Goo and Close Combat Weapon ideas. Grey goo is definitely fanciful, but if the nanites are made of carbon, and they get energy from breaking down carbon (though now that seems unlikely because of the huge energy requirements to make complex carbon bonds) it could be possible. The CCW gets all the power it needs from the back pack power plant. Nanocontrollers could also make ammunition 'smart' or more devastating. Basically, other than the Grey Goo, which may or may not be possible (but is a cool idea) nanotechnology could just make the weapons or ammunition just a little bit better.

 

Who needs nano bombs when you have Exterminatus? I imagine if Nano Technology was being introduced into a REDUX of 40K it would probably be used in the Standard Template Construct Devices. Huge metal tanks flooded with Nanobots who then make your tanks, buildings etc. Or as special Bolter Ammo, or perhaps as alternate way of creating Marines; micro cybernetic rebuilding instead of genetic manipulation.

However, if Nanotech were to exist in this Redux I would imagine it would belong to the Tau, they seem the most suited to that kind of tech.

But I believe Nano Tech exists in 40k already in the form of the Techno Organic Virus that created the Obliterator Cults.