Propagate- IF

Gimp 2

This is a digital piece I've done for Illustration Friday. The topic this week was Propagate. I decided to illustrate the propagation of machines. This end of the world scenario is called the "grey goo effect" by engineer and writer, Eric Drexler. He wrote that once nanomachines could reproduce they could theoretically take over and end humanity as we know it.

"In thinking about nanotechnology today, what's most important is understanding where it leads, what nanotechnology will look like after we reach the assembler breakthrough."

-K. Eric Drexler

The illustration shows a wave of machines covering and absorbing the Earth's surface. All material the machines come across is converted into more machines until the entire planet is nothing but machines. The skulls were used to give the sense of foreboding and to allude to the machines' human creators.