From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Tue Oct 02 2001 - 15:59:12 MDT
Mike Lorrey wrote:
>
> On a positive note, what are the odds that CERN could create a black
> hole and feed it enough matter to grow it up so that it is stable? How
> much mass would we need to toss into it to make it stable long enough to
> get it into space? If we got it there, wouldn't it be a nice thing to
> have around for various purposes....
That implies a weapons/battery technology that makes fusion look like a
sneeze. In effect, it would be direct mass-to-energy conversion. You
pick the output level desired, create a black hole with the corresponding
diameter in terms of Hawking radiation, and then feed it to keep it at
equilibrium. Result: Direct conversion. Stop feeding the black hole and
it evaporates explosively. Result: Really large bang. Not sure offhand
how much radiation is emitted in the last second of a black hole's life,
but I get the impression it's large enough that we're supposed to be able
to detect it with a telescope.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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