[ExI] Von Neumann Probes

[John Clark]

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 7:57 AM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

* >>  It makes no difference how the energy is produced, according to the
>> Second Law Of Thermodynamics if you make a vast amount of energy then
>> you're going to make a vast amount of waste energy in the form of infrared
>> radiation, and to us that will look like a very intense point source. *
>
>
> * > If you have a black hole, can't that be used to dispose of the waste
> heat?*


*If you beam the heat as infrared radiation toward the black hole some of
that beam will inevitably scatter and be detectable. And any process that
moves energy from point A to point B is never 100% efficient so trying to
dispose of the heat would create more heat that astronomers could
detect. And the black hole would have to be a big one because small ones
are too hot, and having a big black hole in your solar system would not be
very comfortable for ET. *

*And why would ET go to all that trouble anyway? *

* >> But we have seen nothing that looks like that.*
>
>
> * > Not yet, we haven't. That doesn't mean they don't exist.*


*I think it means exactly that because the simplest explanation is the
best. *

*John K Clark*



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