[ExI] Von Neumann Probes

[Jason Resch]

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:04 AM John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 8:42 AM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
>
>>> *>>  Bremermann’s Limit tells you how many bits per second a given
>>> mass of matter can process information before it collapses into
>>> a Black Hole. The formula is:*C^2/h = 1.35*10^50 bits per second per
>>> kilogram.
>>
>>
>> *> I don't see what Bremmermann's limit has to do with black holes. *
>
>
> *You can't go faster than the speed of light, so if you want your
> microchip to process a bit of information faster then you're going to need
> to make the parts of the chip closer together. And you're going to need to
> make the wavelength of the light that you use for communication between the
> parts of the chip smaller. And the smaller the wavelength that light is the
> more energy it has. And E=MC^2. If you keep trying to make the chip go
> faster then eventually the distance becomes so small and the energy becomes
> so large that a Black Hole forms. *
>

A black hole represents the fastest *serial* computer for a given number of
bits. But note that operations per second of non-serial (parallel
operations) is independent of the computer's density. You can have 10^51
ops/s whether that 1 kg of computer is 1 cubic meter, or a microscopic
black hole.

Jason



>
> *John K Clark*
>
>
>
>
>
>>> *>> If you try to go beyond Bremermann's Limit the energy/mass density
>>>>> would become so high that your computer would collapse into a Black Hole,
>>>>> and then information could go in but it couldn't get out so the machine
>>>>> wouldn't be of much use. *
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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