[ExI] Von Neumann Probes

[John Clark]

On Mon, Jan 26, 2026 at 8:52 AM Jason Resch via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

*>> 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.*


*So ET is so obsessed with wringing ever last joule of energy out of their
heat engine that they **think** the 2.7 degree temperature of the Cosmic
Microwave Background Radiation isn't cold enough so they use a LARGE black
hole as a heat sink instead to slightly improve the efficiency of their
heat engine. BUT they don't mind the fact that every star in the universe
is radiating all its energy uselessly into infinite empty space! That
doesn't make sense. But I know of an explanation to explain the lack of
observational evidence of Dyson spheres, and unlike your explanation it's
not convoluted.  *

*John K Clark*








>
> 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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