[ExI] The Universe is big - really, really BIG.

[BillK]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2023 at 02:48, Adam A. Ford <tech101 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Anders Sandberg and Stuart Armstrong wrote a paper 'Eternity in 6 hrs' - tldr build a dyson swarm from the matter of a few large asteroids and use it to thrust heaps of VN probes towards every solar system/energy source within reach - and that reach is far.  We don't know how much dust there is btw galaxies, and galaxy clusters atm, so hard to model success rate.  Assume lots of redundant probes. http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/intergalactic-spreading.pdf
>
> Here is my interview with Stuart on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3sClR6m8s
> Kind regards,
> Adam A. Ford
> AU Mobile +61 421 979977
>
> Chair - Science, Technology & the Future - (Meetup / Facebook / YouTube / Instagram / Twitter) - Convener,  H+ Australia | Singularity Summit Australia
>
> "A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels." - Albert Einstein,  May 1946)
> _______________________________________________


I seem to remember some discussion here on that paper some years ago.
The idea that an advanced civ could send probes to every planet in the
galaxy within a comparatively short timescale does seem to be quite
reasonable.
As there are no signs of probes or advanced civs, the conclusion drawn
was that either there may only be one civ per galaxy (i.e. advanced
civs are very rare). And we are the one for this galaxy.
Or there is some fundamental reason that makes all advanced civs
decide not to spam the galaxy with probes or replicators.
Not necessarily self-destruction, as retreating to live within virtual
reality is also possible, among other reasons.

The Fermi Paradox remains unsolved.


BillK