[ExI] Space Gnats (Was: Re: Gold)

[Eugen Leitl]

On Sat, Jun 01, 2013 at 02:10:12PM -0400, Alan Grimes wrote:
> BillK wrote:
> >On Fri, May 31, 2013 at 3:06 PM, Ben Zaiboc wrote:
> >I like the idea, but solid-state doesn't mean you can travel at the
> >speed of light.
> >Solid means a solid block with no moving parts, except the electrons
> >(photons?) inside.
> 
> >So you still have to find the power to drive a block up to high speeds
> >and slow it down at the far end.

Never underestiamte the bandwidth of a relativistic station
wagon full of tapes.

http://what-if.xkcd.com/31/
 
> >But your idea of intelligences travelling at light speed might still
> >be feasible if the computronium block was sent on ahead and waited for
> >the mind to be lasered across the solar system into it. If your
> >standard Type 1483 mind bricks were scattered around, then minds might
> >be able to connect to empty bricks and move at light speed, leaving an
> >empty brick behind for someone else.
> 
> W R 0 N G ! ! !
> 
> The fastest travel time using that method is a bit worse than C/3

Look into the difference between UDP and TCP.
 
> 
> Here's a reasonable protocol:
> 
> 1. Transmitter broadcasts a fuck-ton of data into the ether.
> 
> 2. Receiver computes a checksum on each block and broadcasts it back
> to the sender to prove that it's radio was switched on and that it
> actually received something usable.
> 
> 3. Depending on the reply, the transmitter either goes back to #1 or
> broadcasts a "Clear to continue" message.
> 
> 4. The receiver begins computations. Conceivably, you could shorten
> this by including the checksums with the initial transmission but,
> given the payload, it seems more reasonable that the sender have as
> much control over the process as possible.