From: Damien Broderick (d.broderick@english.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu May 16 2002 - 00:59:59 MDT
At 11:36 PM 5/15/02 -0700, Robert wrote:
>*IF* (note its a big if), you can launch a seed AI on matter stream
>(perhaps alternating days of matter and anti-matter) that
>functions to contribute momentum as well as material to the ship
>as it is harvested and this is then used in part to expand the on-board
>computronium and the matter happens to be delivered as high-information
>content patterns
Yep.
>Note that I think as spike has pointed out -- you don't ever want to
>travel too close to c due to the damage the cosmic rays and interstellar
>dust will cause the ship.
Well, this is the obvious explanation for the paucity of near-light
velocity craft (not to mention running into brown dwarfs and other denizens
of the dark deep). But to adapt your idea: a coded particle stream is fired
out. The stuff at the front is an ablation shield (creating extra problems
of dealing with secondaries from *it*, but hey) and presumably generates a
hefty magnetic shield as well. Now, stuff further downstream is constantly
sending massively redundant signals forward calibrating the repair
mechanisms as they erode. It's as if we had a bunch of extra chromosomes
against which our primary DNA tested its sequences for validity (and one
can't help wondering if some introns serve just this function). The overall
health of the extended system can be monitored and lasered back to source,
of course, so the homeboys know how everything's going, and can send more
repair code/fodder up the line. The point being that these particulate seed
things need never be considered utterly isolated. I can't do the equations
to see how sensible this is, alas.
Damien Broderick
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