[ExI] Von Neumann Probes

[Jason Resch]

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 8:25 AM John Clark via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> 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? *
>

Colder computers can store and erase information more efficiently (if you
plug in the formula for Landauer's limit). Black hole horizons are the
coldest objects in the universe. Place a computer at the focus of a
parabolic mirror pointed at a large diameter black hole, and you have the
most efficient physically possible non-reversible computer that can be
engineered with (human-known) physics.

Jason



> * >> 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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