[ExI] The Great Silence again

[BillK]

Michael Anissimov at Accelerating Future has just posted a comment
that appeals to me.

<http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/2011/04/elon-musk-ill-put-a-man-on-mars-in-10-years/>

Quote:
Another point I’ve made in the past is that as everyone becomes
uploads and accelerates their thinking speeds, space will begin to
seem very far away. Right now, Luna is 3-4 days away. To beings whose
brains are made up of molecular computers with 100 GHz switching
speeds, Luna is about 3,000,000,000 days away. That’s about eight
million years. An eight million year trip to go to an empty wasteland
without any art, culture, or much Kolmogorov complexity to speak of
beyond geological and mineral patterns?

The near-term future of humanity is to convert the Earth into a
“computronium globe” with a web of trillions of simulated worlds
within it. In several subjective millennia, we may consume the Moon,
but it will be subjective millions of years beyond that until we
colonize Mars. In many billions of years, we may be fortunate enough
to consume the Sun.
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I think I've mentioned in the past that The Fermi problem is probably
because advanced civs don't go out into space.
For many possible reasons, including those mentioned by Michael above.

Sometimes called the retreat into virtual worlds of computronium.


BillK