[ExI] Fermi question, was is a FTL drive a dream . . .

[BillK]

On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 7:30 AM, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> There is nothing particularly virtual about hardware. It's large,
> bulky, and takes entire stars to power in sufficient quantities.
>

Even with nanotech?


> The speed of information propagation is a red herring, because
> you're happy enough to interact mostly-locally. People got out
> of Africa on foot just fine, one band of primates by another.
>

We're not talking about primates. Million times speedup intelligences
with nanotech don't have the same drives as primates.


>
> It takes too long to talk to somewhere more than a light seconds
> away? Don't do it, then! Just talk to people closer to you, and
> so will they, and so on.
>

'Talking' is probably the wrong word to use about these intelligences.
That sort of hive-mind may well not  even have individuals as we
understand it.


> Why do you insist to talk at all, for that matter? Seeds are
> pretty inert. They never get bored, and sprout just fine on
> the other end of the journey.
>

If seeds are the preferred colonisation method, then that implies that
we must be the first in the galaxy. Even at sub-light speeds the
galaxy is old enough to have been colonised many times over.




BillK