[ExI] Feasibility of solid Dyson Sphere WAS mbrains again: request

[Dennis May]

I wrote:
 
> term survival "big-picture questions for human 
> civilization" should look at long term stability
> as a primary criteria.  I believe the Superstealth 
> SND approach is fundamental to the
> survival of any technological civilization.
 
Eugen Leitl wrote:

> I believe that superstealth and advanced cultures
> are mutually exclusive. You can't hide your 
> metabolism.  Unless you're not there.

In nature as in military technology there is always
a cost involved in hiding which also creates a cost
for anyone searching.  Balancing the cost/benefit 
ratio is the question.  Do you hide every E&M 
signal or just those an advanced SETI program
might see.  Do you hide every heat signature or
do you make your heat signature look natural?
 
It might be difficult for us to imagine hiding
advanced cultures but does advanced culture
necessarily mean huge centralized processing 
plants and huge cities?  The growth of the 
information age seems to poke some holes in that
idea.  Satellite TV in rural Nebraska in 1979 when
New York City cable still had 9 channels years 
later.  An Intranet on the Cable TV system 
in Omaha in 1982-83 when a Commodore 64 or
an Atari 5200 was the ticket and PC's were 
unheard of.
 
The information age allows a great many things
to be done in a dispersed civilization.  The 
advantages of proximity and size in an mbrain 
are not necessarily the last word in capabilities.
 
Dennis May
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