[ExI] fermi paradox just got worse

[Keith Henson]

I wrote on this topic and published clear back in 1990.

Drexler figured out how to deal with the stopping problem. If I can locate
a copy, I might post his amusing way to do it.

Keith


On Mon, Aug 10, 2026 at 6:04 AM Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 10, 2026 at 8:35 AM John Clark via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> > you have to assume there is EXACTLY 100% agreement between every
> intelligent entity in the observable universe about the wisdom of making a
> von Neumann probe
>
> Caveat: "...every intelligent entity in the observable universe that
> is capable of creating a working von Neumann probe...".
>
> I observe that the vast majority of observed intelligent entities on
> Earth lack this capability, and would continue to lack it for their
> entire lives even if they desired to do so (and gained a functional
> understanding of the concept of a von Neumann probe, no matter what
> they called it).
>
> This is not all of the intelligent entities on Earth, but far more
> than enough to invalidate your phrasing without this additional
> qualification.  That still leaves enough intelligent entities to be a
> problem, but substantially dials back the magnitude of the problem.
>
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