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It seems to me that they are making way too many crazy assumputions. They are assuming that a civilization that can make a probe that lasts 50 million years wo
by cakeface 17y ago
It seems to me that they are making way too many crazy assumputions. They are assuming that a civilization that can make a probe that lasts 50 million years would only send out 8 probes? That seems to be the wrong mentality. I would rather think that the probes would last a shorter amount of time but they send out thousands. Also what kind of evidence would these probes leave behind that would last 1 million to 100 million years? More likely they would buzz by taking pictures and radio readings of a system and then just keep going.
- nazgulnarsil 17y agoI would send out von neuman probes that build more of themselves.
- ivanstojic 17y agoThis will end in nothing good, I can assure you.
- nazgulnarsil 17y agooh I know, I'm just an asshole on an interstellar scale. I would probably want to have it continuously transmit a video of keyboard cat, seeding the galaxy with my trolling.
- cschneid 17y agoMy favorite negative outcome from self replicating probes is the kind that are sent out to investigate the universe, and report back to a location some millions of years later to report. Except too many of them have been built, and when they show up, gravity is too much, and they form a black hole. For whatever reason, that's just funny to me.
- mattculbreth 17y agoGo read Alastair Reynolds and see if you feel the same. Yikes.
- Luc 17y agoWhich book/article? He's written a lot of novels and stories.
- ivanstojic 17y agoThe Revelation Space series: Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, etc. Inhibitors. Brrr....
- ivanstojic 17y agoOn a related note... Chasm City isn't strictly within the general story arc of Revelation Space, but it's a good background reading on what the universe feels like in that time/locale.
- mattculbreth 17y agoYeah his Revelation Space universe deals with this. Read the 4 main novels (RS, CC, AG, RA) and make sure you read the short stories in Galactic North.
- dbz 17y agoGray Goo... ...But in real life.... Oh! The horror!