Prey #2

"Ricky switched the monitor view. We now watched at ground level. The three clouds converged on the terrified bunny, which was moving fast, a whitish blur on the screen. The clouds swirled after it with surprising speed. The behavior was clear: they were hunting. I felt a moment of irrational pride. PREDPREY was working perfectly! Those swarms might as well be lionesses chasing a gazelle, so purposeful was their behavior. The swarms turned sharply, then split up, cutting off the rabbit's escape to the left and right. The behavior of the clouds clearly appeared coordinated." (pg. 148)

It was obvious to me that the swarm of nano-particles would end up turning violent, because they were programmed to act like predators. I also notice that the book is named Prey, because the workers at this plant, and maybe the rest of the world may be it's prey if they do not think of a way to stop it. Another thing I believe is amazing that these nano- particles are able to all act in one coordinated motion, but they do not have a nucleus. How could they possibly interact with each other or even know what to do to chase down prey if they do not have a brain. I can infer that somebody is somehow controlling this swarm, because it is plain impossible for them to be able to know what to do to chase down a food source. This passage's purpose is to convey the reader that this black cloud can indeed kill creatures, and it is not just aimlessly floating in the air. The author described this as if the nano- particles were in pursuit, and indeed they were. The depection of the future is one of human technology coming back to kill creatures, which reveal's that the present is insecure about what scientists and biologists are creating. The language in this book is describing the human's as victims or "prey" which make's people think we will be attacked. This also reflects on the last post, because what the swarm was going to do was a mystery, but now it is well understood that they are in attack mode.