Re: Fermi "Paradox"

From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Mon Aug 04 2003 - 11:36:44 MDT

  • Next message: Lee Corbin: "Re: Fermi "Paradox""

    On Mon, 4 Aug 2003, Randall Randall wrote:

    > You're forgetting that Lee doesn't care about benefit to Lee I
    > in particular, but about benefit to all the instances of Lee
    > collectively.

    Not! As I said a Extro 3 to survive over the long term one
    needs a "distributed replicated intelligence" -- *BUT*
    "distribution" of ones intelligence across a solar system
    sized object (a Matrioshka Brain) does a pretty good job of this
    (asteroids, commets, small black holes become "minor" concerns).

    But distributing ones intelligence across light years makes it
    essentially "impossible" for Lee to function as a connected
    intelligence. So you seem to be suggesting that "Lee" is
    a socialist or a communist and that he is colonizing for the
    "good" of the very loosely connected collective.

    > That is, creating Lee II is a way to get more
    > run time for Lee I.
    >
    > I don't happen to agree with that, but losing track of what's
    > been said before is exceptionally unproductive in these threads.

    No, the point I have been trying to make (it seems like over
    and over again) is that Lee II *cannot* provide any "return
    on investment" to Lee I. The only reason that Lee I would
    create Lee II is out of some desire to propagate and Lee I
    would know that propagation eventually has negative consequences.

    > If they had started with the assumption that GB or Spain would
    > eventually be defeated by *someone*, they might very well have
    > chosen to deliberately create the next set of winners. You can't
    > prevent North America (or the intergalactic space) from being
    > colonized, but you can try to choose what sort do the colonization.

    Perhaps. Most people do not act out of a desire to produce their
    replacements. Sure you can have evolutionary drives but
    any advanced civilization will have regulated those drives
    (witness the declining populations in Japan and Europe).
    Now one might produce "offspring" if it were clear that they
    were not going to compete with you (i.e. the children of
    advanced civilizations exit from the galaxy due to the
    temperature and thermodynamics reasons I have suggested).

    Robert



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