From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net)
Date: Sat Oct 21 2000 - 13:35:36 MDT
Eugene Leitl wrote:
> Adrian Tymes writes:
> > I don't think we can safely assume fixed tech, at least not for anything
> > that is to yield practical insights on our universe.
>
> Yes we can, because there are not that many ways how to make efficient
> propulsion, and to manipulate matter to build stuff. Sooner or later,
> a system of 10^9 stellar systems will find them.
People once said that it was impossible to move through the air faster
than air (sound) itself could.
People once said that is was impossible to propel oneself through the
vacuum of outer space.
People once said that nothing could move faster than light under any
circumstances. (There's still debate over whether anything useful is
being moved in the latest experiments.)
Part of technology is finding ways around limits. There's a provable
maximum efficiency for chemical rockets? Fine, switch to another
propulsion (say, fuel or light) with provably higher limits.
Eventually, switch to moving without propulsion - synchronized quantum
teleportation over large distances, for example. The only absolute
limit on that line, barring time travel, is being able to move instantly
from one place to another...at which point, your per-stop time dominates
your speed of colonization, so teleport masses of terraformig/industry
building/colonization nanites to your target to colonize your target in
a blink, and speed up production of said nanites to lessen time between
colonizations.
> Assuming that physics is not changeable, of course, which is a rather
> safe bet.
Give me fixed physics and a sufficiently large amount of ingenuity and
resources, and I can get you practically anything. (Some things are
impossible as is, but other things which serve the same ends as well or
better are present for every human desire I've seen. Even if sometimes,
the desire - say, colonization of the universe - must be unmasked from
its expression - say, colonization of the universe with current
technology - in order to discern the best way to satisfy it.)
The Singularity, if it exists, doesn't peak. It merely goes on until we
advance our ways of thinking sufficiently that we can see the future
once more. I base this claim on what I see every day, as some people
think the immediate future is an unimaginable tech (u/dis)topia, until
they get handle on the realities of what's out there.
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