From: Robert Bradbury (bradbury@genebee.msu.su)
Date: Mon Jan 10 2000 - 16:21:15 MST
On Sun, 9 Jan 2000, Eliezer S. Yudkowsky wrote:
>
> If the Powers are that hungry, why didn't the first sentient species to
> transcend eat the Universe? *Bzzzt* Fermi Paradox.
Robert Freitas has an interesting answer for this in his Xenology text.
He argues that advanced "moral entities" would be highly "extropic"
and seek to maximize the possible information content in the universe.
They would never "consume" or "destroy" anything that has some
"minimum" information content. It may just be that planets in habitable
zones have sufficient information content that they get left alone
to evolve to their fullest potential. To consume a planet, star
system, etc. for your own purposes, you have to make an internal
argument that you could put it to much better use that it might
develop for itself. Since, you have a very difficult time making
that argument (it requires predicting a very long future), the
systems you can morally colonize may be few and far between.
It would only take a few "old" entities with this position,
policing emerging entities who haven't adopted this principle to
make it the "natural order".
Robert
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