[ExI] von Neumann probes (was Re: fermi paradox)

[Vladimir Nesov]

On Dec 8, 2007 6:18 PM, Bryan Bishop <kanzure at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday 08 December 2007, spike wrote:
> > For that reason it seems a waste of both information and energy to
> > carry matter across vast stretches of emptiness without first having
> > maximized the information content of the matter being hurled.
>
> Yes, which also brings us back to some other ideas, i.e. interstellar
> lasers for pure information transfer. We already have lasers that
> operate on our bodies (laser eye surgery is a popular one)- and in the
> future, why not on distant planetary bodies? Then you've maximized
> information content while *eliminating* matter.  I have not done any
> calculations on how much energy this would require.
>
> - Bryan

Interesting: has anyone thought about feasibility of 'burning'
functional devices across interstellar distances? You send a signal
that travels at speed of light, which somehow causes formation of
nanodevices far away that then can do whatever you program them to...

-- 
Vladimir Nesov                            mailto:robotact at gmail.com