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

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2011-12-21 09:00, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>> front, and maybe even a universal dimming. It also interacts with
>> Robin's cosmic commons scenario.
>
> I don't see how cosmic commons is possible. The assumptions make no
> sense.

Which assumptions in the scenario make no sense?

> You can probably push
> 10^3 probes simultaneously, if not more. The costs for each seed are
> negligible.

Yup, that fits with our calculations. For nanoprobes with about a ton of 
reaction mass to slow down you can deliver payloads to all galaxies in 
the reachable universe within a tiny fraction of lightspeed over a 
launch period less than a century.

Some interesting questions about the visibility of probes slowing down. 
Continous antimatter rockets would show a very unusual signature of 
blueshifted annihilation plus blackbody radiation, but Drexler suggested 
something more akin to backwards pointing railguns that might be far 
harder to see.

-- 
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford University