BBC Focus Magazine

[Jamie]

When one tiny circuit within an integrated chip cracks or fails, the whole chip – or even the whole device – is a loss. But what if it could fix itself, and fix itself so fast that the user never knew there was a problem?

http://news.illinois.edu/news/11/1220se ... Moore.html

[Healerman]

When you think about it, this is major league stuff. Remote sensors, satellites, anything that goes physically beyond access for repair, and especially into hostile environments with the capability to deal with shock damage in this way.

[Shadowwolf]

I could see prices shooting up.

Most electronic companies I think have some level of dependence on the products wearing out after a number of years, thus compelling you to buy new ones. Between that and developing new gadgets they make money, but if the goods can fix themselves there may be a shortfall to be plugged. Or maybe they could shut down almost their entire service division and recoup any loss that way.

[M Paul Lloyd]

I think it is a wonderful idea to have anything artificial that can 'self-heal' itself, it could after all lead to systems and materials that would never wear out but as Mr.S points out the financial implications might make such technology its own worst enemy. Although in the case of satellite technology I can see it having a financial benefit given the enormous cost of getting anything into orbit. Perhaps if that recent Mars/Phobos probe had benefited from such technology it might just be on its way by now?

However I do see a possible downside to this, in as much as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances is a driving force behind evolutionary change, so yes a circuit may repair itself perfectly 999 times out of 1000 but what if that 0.1% results in something at odds with the originally intended function? Something we had not foreseen?
The 'mad' robot scenario if you will?