[ExI] Virtual Reality is where the aliens are

[BillK]

On 22 August 2015 at 15:49, Keith Henson wrote:
> Indeed.  If they are a social species, then the range in which they
> can interact with others of the civilization shrinks dramatically.  I
> made a case in an article you have seen that a civ will have to shrink
> to 300 meters or less depending on how much the culture speeds up.
> Fast processing generates a lot of waste heat, so it makes sense to
> sink the "civilization" in the deep cold ocean.
>
<snip>
> If they were sunk in the deep oceans of Earth like planets, we would
> never see them.  I think we understand the physics of computation much
> better than the sociology of arbitrary evolved aliens.  Moving into
> virtual reality and speeding up by a million times is like the
> universe suddenly moved away from you.  The already ridiculous
> distance to other stars becomes insanely large.
>


Is it safe to assume that advanced future computing will generate a
lot of waste heat?

They almost certainly won't be pushing electrons through copper wiring.

We are just on the edge of optical computing and photons don't create
waste heat.
Spintronics is also a new field that creates little heat. Some
spintronic devices actually *use* waste heat from elsewhere. Who knows
what nanotech will bring us?

'Waste' heat probably has uses. What will be the end state of  an
advanced civ? Surely not just an inert sphere glowing white-hot? That
may be in the centre, but maintenance, communication and protection
systems should also be required and they need energy.

If the civ is thinking long-term then being stuck in an ocean is
probably not a good idea. Drifting in deep space sounds better and
more eternal.

BillK