From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Mon Feb 17 2003 - 19:17:01 MST
Ah, I've lost count, but here's another one.:)
Dan
From: Dennis May determinism@hotmail.com
To: Starship_Forum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 9:01 PM
Lee Corbin lcorbin@tsoft.com wrote:
>If there are other civilizations in the visible universe, then they'll
have
>their own wave front expanding at the speed of light, and yes,
>there will be a collision. But there will be no advance notice of the
>meeting. Moreover, the wave front itself will be at the stage of
>technological development that characterized the beginning stages of
>expansion, not the stage meanwhile reached at the centers.
>So the collision will be on approximately equal terms.
There are several assumptions [variables] inherent
in your model which can turn out very differently.
Colonizing new land does not expand uniformly in
all directions. It generally follows the path of
least resistance to the greatest riches in the
shortest time frame. But settlers do not always
follow the rules. In the United States some early
European settlers lived far from the settlement
front a century before the later Europeans. Some
met the natives and traded with them long before
significant war between the groups occurred.
Many settlers bypassed the Indians effectively
leaving them in the middle while growth occurred
on both sides.
I see no good reason to assume that the most
advanced technology will be found near the
center of the expansion sphere. Did all
modern technology arise out of Africa or
did a great deal of it happen in the United
States while it was still being settled?
Lee Corbin wrote:
>Given nanotech, how is stealth possible?
Your nanotech will be fighting, evading,
and hiding from other nanotech [both your
own, competing groups within your own
expansion sphere, and alien] much like
ants battling for supremacy. Nanotech
will have to remain stealth or be destroyed.
Corrupted or obsolete nanotech will have to
be hunted by other nanotech or its presence
will betray you militarily. If you cannot
control your nanotech it becomes a liability.
Stealth is not about remaining invisible
under all circumstances, it is about
minimizing your exposure and making the
enemy expend great resources if he wishes
to find you. His expenditure of great
resources exposes him.
Lee Corbin wrote:
>Why wouldn't my local civilization expand to use every single last
asteroid
>in the neighborhood? Certainly, no solar system will escape notice.
The
>growth of the singularity will be geometric, both locally and globally.
Even bacteria only expand geometrically under
ideal circumstances and only for a finite
amount of time due to finite resources.
Introduce a single pathogen and all bets are
off. Introduce multiple pathogens or
competitors and you develop an ecology.
With an endless Cold War of WoMD in space
you will be more concerned about avoiding
destruction than mining every last piece
of usable rock. There is plenty of good
rock to graze on as you live the nomadic
life. A missing rock here or there will
not raise red alerts like whole asteroids
mined and built into thousand mile long
space stations.
Think militarily, I'm sure others have and
will.
I see interlacing civilizations of nomads,
not colliding brick walls. Sort of like
different species of bees forming dispersed
swarms. One swarm can pass right through
another without conflict. When conflict
does occur the decentralized nomadic nature
of both keeps it from spreading far. WoMD
ensure the wise policy is to keep right on
moving. Any ground you might claim can
be destroyed for much cheaper than you can
defend it.
Dennis May
~ * ~
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