[ExI] tabby's star again

[Keith Henson]

On Mon, Sep 18, 2017 at 7:52 AM,  John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> ?They closely examined the rate of dimming of the ultraviolet light and the
> infrared light and they found the rate of dimming between the two was
> significantly different; and a Dyson Sphere, completed or not, wouldn't do
> that. The only thing that would scatter light like that is lots and lots of
> microscopic dust.  Yes it's odd that a mature star like Tabby would have
> such a thick cloud of dust in orbit around it and nobody is quite sure why
> it's there, but whatever caused the dust it sure doesn't look like aliens
> are responsible for the dimming.

Surely I am not the only person who remembers the early 90s
discussions.  They made it to Wikipedia and are a major element in
Charles Stross's story _Accelerando_.

Matrioshka brain - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain
A matrioshka brain is a hypothetical megastructure proposed by Robert
Bradbury, based on the Dyson sphere, of immense computational
capacity. It is an example of a Class B stellar engine, employing the
entire energy output of a star to drive computer systems. This concept
derives its name from Russian Matrioshka dolls. ... Astroengineering ·
Computronium · Megascale engineering · Strong AI ...

I never thought a lot of the idea for heat sink and communication
delay reasons, but it is not out of the question.

Just because it looks like dust does not rule it out as artificial.

Keith