[extropy-chat] Dark matter and ET

Robin Hanson rhanson at gmu.edu
Fri Jul 15 00:50:05 UTC 2005


At 08:22 PM 7/14/2005, Dan Clemmensen wrote:
>1)  Dark matter: We have not been able to detect by other means enough matter
>     to account for all of the gravitational effect we see in the cosmos.
>2)  The Fermi Paradox: Why have we not detected signs of other intelligent 
>life in
>      the cosmos?
>Perhaps these questions answer each other. ... most SI might evolve to 
>efficient computronium. What is efficient computronium, and what is its 
>emission signature? If it is difficult to detect, it may comprise the 
>missing mass.
>def: computronium: matter organized to optimize computing capacity.
>def: efficient computronium: computronium organized to optimize 
>computations per Joule.
>Does anyone have references to prior speculation on this topic?

Robert Bradbury has posted on this topic many times on this list over the 
years.  I've often played the role of critic in responding to him.  It is a 
subtle question what exactly the goals of alien civilizations would be, and 
different goals lead to different computational priorities.  Also, there is 
the question of why such aliens are not trying to make use of all the stuff 
that we do see.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323 





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