[ExI] von Neumann probes (was Re: fermi paradox)

[Bryan Bishop]

On Saturday 08 December 2007, Vladimir Nesov wrote:
> Interesting: has anyone thought about feasibility of 'burning'
> functional devices across interstellar distances? You send a signal
> that travels at speed of light, which somehow causes formation of
> nanodevices far away that then can do whatever you program them to...

We'd start off trying to encourage the development of biologies on 
distant planets, setting the environmental conditions just right, but 
eventually "burning" may be possible. An obvious first step is 
developing machinery locally with lasers. In lab BEC machines, we 
already use lasers to (nearly completely) stop the movement of atoms 
and then move them via magnetic fields, but that's not laser-only 
construction, is it?

- Bryan