From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Aug 04 2003 - 18:16:35 MDT
Wei Dei commented on my comments re: Marvin Minsky's comments to
Dyson.
He cited:
> See: http://www.weidai.com/black-holes.txt.
I apologize -- I do not recall seeing this earlier or the post you cite:
http://www.extropy.org/exi-lists/archive/0205/106121.html
(which raises a number of issues, some of which I'm going to have
to reflect upon).
*But*, just dealing with the physics aspect of a Dyson Shell/MBrain
constructed around a black hole -- it is very interesting. It
is not to far from the "externally powerer MBrain" concepts that
I had in mind in the original MBrain paper but solves the cooling
problem in a very very interesting way.
It is going to create a very interesting tradeoff -- if you want
the greatest computing capacity one is going to want a black hole
with a small mass (smaller event horizon). This is going to increase
the production of Hawking radiation and will decrease the lifetime
of the black hole. So you may be able to compute "more" but you
will do so for a shorter period of time before your means to do so
fails you. (This may be related to computational civilizations
hurling themselves into black holes (or engaging in otherwise
self-destructive "terminal" activities) that I believe that Anders
and I have discussed, perhaps onlist, in the quest of "ultimate"
computations.)
But the concept of MBrains with the stars (or fusion reactors)
on the outside and a black hole on the inside and the radiators
facing inwards instead of outwards certainly deserves a greater
amount of study. Respectful nods on my part.
> You mention the fact that the Europeans and the Japanese are having
> falling fertility rates. Why is this happening? Is it an accident
> unique to the human species that richer societies do less reproduction,
> or can we expect the same of other intelligent beings?
To be honest I do not know. In part I think it may be a decline on
the part of non-agricultural parents to need more children (to bring
in the harvest, etc.). In part I think it may be because parents
(once they have control over reproductive processes) may choose to
focus limited resources on fewer children. It may be a shift from
"I want 'more' children" to "I want 'better' children". But those
would only be guesses on my part. Though if the last hypothesis is
correct the development of inexpensive genetic testing and greater
knowledge of how genes influence capabilities would suggest that the
trends will continue.
Robert
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