[extropy-chat] fermi's paradox: m/d approach

[Technotranscendence]

On atlantis_II, Dennis May responded to Spike's post with the following.
(To find out more about atlantis_II, see
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/atlantis_II/ )

Enjoy!

Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/

From: Dennis May <determinism at hotmail.com>
To: <atlantis_II at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 11:26 AM
Subject: [atlantis_II] Re: fermi's paradox: m/d approach: cross-post
from Extropians


Daniel Ust forwards from Spike at [extropy-chat]:

"...we aren't worth the mass to send us signals. I will
call this argument the M/D approach to Fermi's
paradox."

A civilization worth uncountable trillions of dollars but
the cost of an interstellar cell-phone is too much?

Spike wrote:

"Today there is no convincing mechanism that would
cause technological progress to stop. Gray goo is
something to worry about, but nature has had billions
of years to stumble upon it."

Gray goo has to obey the same thermodynamic and
chemical laws as living creatures.  Some of the capabilities
ascribed to gray goo have ignored these laws.  In any
case gray goo has to compete for resources and avoid
predators/parasites just like anyone else.  Paisley goo is
sure to run them out of many niches :-).  Nano-bacteria
exist at the  borderline of what is too small to be alive -
and might not be life but simply the remains.  Can
gray-goo exist with even smaller parasites eating off of it?

Spike wrote:

"This is my contention: that artificial intelligence wants to
THINK. It lives to think. It is smart enough to make things
happen: it knows how to build things. If it likes to think,
then it wants to get all the available material thinking, so
it builds an MBrain. It gathers all the metals in orbit about
the star and converts it all to whatever form maximizes
thought."

Not a very smart brain if it wants to put all its resources
into one place - ready to be destroyed by WoMD.  What
is to be gained by having a massive brain?  Is anything of
survival value added beyond a certain size?

Spike wrote:

"Energy from the star can be allowed to escape,
wasted, lost forever into the cosmos, for there is plenty
of that. But time cannot be wasted, for heat death is
coming to all."

If you believe in a model of thermodynamics including the
"Big Bang Theory".  I do not.

I support the WoMD cause of the Fermi Paradox.  Stealth,
mobility, and dispersion are the secrets to survival with space
WoMD.  Advertise your presence and expose yourself to WoMD.

Dennis May