Re: MEDIA: NOVA on Gamma Ray Bursters

From: Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Date: Thu Jan 10 2002 - 11:49:33 MST


"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> You can assert that if ET exists he is more advanced.
>
> You CANNOT assume a civilization a million or billion years
> more advanced would be engineering the "universe". It may
> seem like a nice idea from where we sit -- but they may
> have found better ways.
>
> Furthermore -- Marvin Minsky pointed out *decades* ago
> (in a conversation with Dyson in a conference with many
> leading astronomers) that the most advanced civilizations
> would only radiate heat energy at slightly above cosmic
> microwave background radiation temperature. Show me the
> evidence that we have *any* ability to detect concentrated
> sources with such temperatures!
>

All well and good, but it doesn't explain why one superintelligence
in their civilization wouldn't, out of the goodness of its non-heart,
take half a second of realtime to design and construct a small,
replicating (as it encounters new solar systems), fast nanoprobe
that should by this point in time completely spread itself through
our galaxy helping out and uploading (or whatever is "best") the species
it runs across.

-- 
Brian Atkins
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/


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