[ExI] Von Neumann Probes

[Keith Henson]

On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 5:00 PM Jason Resch via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
snip

> I would argue running computations is the primary motivating principle of any advanced civilization, not consuming energy.

If you want to run computers, you need an energy source and a heat
sink.  Where you put this in a star system depends on the temperature
you want to operate at.  The Tabby's star object has been measured at
65 K.  It is located far enough from the star to get 100 W/m^2.  At
that temperature, it takes about 50 times as much area to radiate as
light interception.  A deep V shape would work.

Even at 100 W/m^2, the object collects 1.4 million times the total
energy humans use.

Keith

> Jason
>
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>>
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>> John K Clark
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