[ExI] Are Dyson swarms a good idea?

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 29/01/2026 17:17, Jason Resch wrote:
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>     > We see the aliens from the movie independence day as evil for trying to wipe out life on Earth. Is it not an equivalent evil to build a Dyson swarm around an alien star and preclude any chance of life from emerging on any planet in that system?
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>     That is the argument I was refuting. Talking about hegemonising  the whole galaxy, and supplanting any existing lifeforms with another, is another argument altogether.
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> You are right. There is a missing factor in the calculation which is the probability that the solar system will develop conscious life.
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> It is an equivalent evil only when that factor is 1. And for systems with no chance of developing life the factor is 0.


A probability of 1 is a certainty. I don't know how you could determine that.

I did, many posts ago, mention that it would probably be a good idea to have some protocol for deciding if any life already exists in the system, before building anything that might destroy the life, on the assumption that any intelligent minds wouldn't want to destroy information without good cause.

I'm talking about existing life, though, not some hypothetical ability to develop it. As 'life' doesn't have a hard definition, some decision would have to be made, if, for example, amino acids, etc., were detected on a planet with an environment that might encourage the formation of living cells if things turn out just right. Or if something analogous to cyanobacteria were the only inhabitants of a planet.

We can't second-guess a superintelligence, but I'd say that it was certainly a good idea to leave alone any systems (or at least any planets) with existing multicellular life, and only colonise barren systems. I'm sure there are a great many of them, and that most of them can be detected at a distance, before you even send your probes out.

-- 
Ben