In a History Channel broadcast , a contrasting idea ( a kind of gray goo ) is referred to in a futuristic doomsday scenario : " In a common practice , billions of nanobots are released to clean up an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana . However , due to a programming error , the nanobots devour all carbon based objects , instead of just the hydrocarbons of the oil . The nanobots destroy everything , all the while , replicating themselves . Within days , the planet is turned to dust . " Drexler describes gray goo in Chapter 11 of '' Engines of Creation '' : Early assembler-based replicators could beat the most advanced modern organisms . ' Plants ' with ' leaves ' no more efficient than today 's solar cells could out-compete real plants , crowding the biosphere with an inedible foliage . Tough , omnivorous ' bacteria ' could out-compete real bacteria : they could spread like blowing pollen , replicate swiftly , and reduce the biosphere to dust in a matter of days . Dangerous replicators could easily be too tough , small , and rapidly spreading to stop & thinsp ; — & thinsp ; at least if we made no preparation . We have trouble enough controlling viruses and fruit flies . Drexler notes that the geometric growth made possible by self-replication is inherently limited by the availability of suitable raw materials
an oil spill off the coast of Louisiana
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Gray goo