3 ms·
The problem with self-replicating probes is they're likely to break down after so many legs. And every time they decelerate, they need to get more energy from t
by vorg 9y ago
The problem with self-replicating probes is they're likely to break down after so many legs. And every time they decelerate, they need to get more energy from the star system before accelerating again -- their AI might not be equipped to handle every situation they encounter, so failure to continue their mission might happen that way.
- pklausler 9y agoYou miss the point about replication.
- vorg 9y agoIn order to replicate, a probe needs material from the star system it's visiting, stuff like iron and silicon. That process is likely to break down after so many journeys, so no more replicants. The probes would put their own AI into the child probes, including their own random defects. It would take a lot of trial and error, each trial being thousands of years, for the likely success of a single journey's replication to exceed the combined half lives of breakdowns and AI degeneration.
- pklausler 9y agoYou miss the point about replication.