“Can we print a plague nanobot?”
Not yet. The only defense that I see is to have the technology so widely spread that defenses against it are developed along with the technology, much like we have seen with the Internet and computer viruses.
The real danger is if the technology is suppressed except for a few governments who develope it in secret. Then the danger would be a breakthrough in one country that would give it an advantage over all others that would be insurmountable.
Pure speculation right now.
You know, back in the last century I came across something that I *think* was a social experiment. But I’m still not sure. The datapoints are here somewhere, on very, very old backup tapes.
It was a project called “Le Visiteur”, and it was seeking volunteer scientists - microbiologists, physisicts amd nanotech people. The goal would be to develop a nanobot virus to wipe out humanity. The payment: getting the code to be among the survivors.
The experiment? ran for a few months, then they announed that they had all they needed.