> You *could* start work on it *today* using computer aided design
> of such a probe. Once designed, something that small doesn't
> cost much to manufacture and I'm sure you could get one of
> the public space societies to launch it. It isn't a small
> undertaking though. You would need a core group of good
> engineers that really wanted to work on it. Spike or Doug
> might be able to comment on how many are needed but I'd
> guess perhaps 50-100 people.
Pardon my ignorance, however, I think we talk a lot but hardly see any action. Do we actually already have a group of researches not doing such research work? I don't mean to put down anyone, but just to explore how we might achieve our goals in a coordinated, practical fashion.
Note: I assume you mean the MEMS probe such as the one at: http://www.ee.washington.edu/research/mems/Projects/NeuralProbe/
<< You may have also missed the discussions on why interstellar colonization is a stupid idea (though opinion is divided on this). You are trying to apply anthropocentric views of travel, colonization, property ownership, etc. without taking into account the self-evolution that will occur once robust nanotechnology is developed. >>
As long as "natural" (as how common law puts it) human beings exist, then we will only find it ethically appropriate or perhaps maximising our common pool of information and ability, to allow human beings to ascend to the transhuman level on their own free will. We can do this with the colony approach - far-away and independent, but accessible
To provide colonies having to deal with those anthropocentric societies would definitely require the existance of boundaries to prevent those opposed to such freedom from causing security problems.
<< You are not taking into account the high costs and diminished value (due to time 'aging') of information transmitted over light-year distances or the very high costs of navigating solar systems. >>
I don't think we will have problems with information transmission faster than the speed of light. Check out: http://www.metaresearch.org/cosmology/gravity/possiblenewpropertiesofgravity.asp
To assume that we cannot break the speed of light barrier into the long term future would not sound wise.
<< I do agree with your comments that claiming space resources is a valuable strategy for individuals to pursue (within a solar system) but believe that as we go through the singularity, individuals will develop approaches for creating trust relationships and guaranteeing one another's security that eliminate the need for wars and weapons. >>
Yes, in theory we may achieve that. However, in practice, there may still exist other civilisations or groups of other people, that still have doubts about each other's trust. It would seem unwise to trust any and all cosmic visitors with bona fide intentions, for who knows if they have any motives such as reproduction of themselves at all costs.
> You and others having this discussion should read my papers
> on planetary dismantlement and Matrioshka Brains as well
> as some of the large body of referenced material.
Yes I will definitely read such interesting material, and I hope you can also give me a link to berserker bots pages because the search engines I used seems to prefer to tell me about RPGs instead.
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