tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post5721302702453259119..comments2023-10-30T04:16:25.917-04:00Comments on Sentient Developments: Cascio chimes in on FermiGeorgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003484633933455827noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-10896866351998659322008-05-18T13:28:00.000-04:002008-05-18T13:28:00.000-04:00I belive all these conventional assumptions about ...I belive all these conventional assumptions about post-singularity civilisations are much too conservative. <BR/>Why does anyone believe technology will stop at the nano-level? Our particle smashers now probe the attometer scale and will perhaps be able to probe into higher dimensions quite soon. <BR/>If a superintelligence is really so powerful as imagined by all those very bright people who suddenly stop thinking beyond nanotech and matrioshkabrains it will find out how to manipulate much much finer scales. <BR/>A post-singularity civilisation might very well be based upon planck-scale spacetime computing or move to higher dimensional spaces long before the first nanotech matrioshka-brain is completed.<BR/>I such a state they would be completly inscutable and fundamentally unobserveable for us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-27302399778006037352008-05-15T18:25:00.000-04:002008-05-15T18:25:00.000-04:00One thing that might be common to all races with '...One thing that might be common to all races with 'space empire' capability is that they will all be *OLD*.<BR/>Vastly increased lifespan will soon be within our reach (though perhaps not in bodies like we have at present). Also we will soon have the ability to redesign our brain to remove all the evolutionary bodges we currently have.<BR/>Great age changes priorities. An old race won't be like 300 year-old teenagers, boldly going anywhere.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-32351616097846131422008-05-15T09:11:00.000-04:002008-05-15T09:11:00.000-04:00Even if we make to a postsingularity civilization ...Even if we make to a postsingularity civilization and the vast majority of sentients are happy living in virtual worlds of their own making, there will be that small number who will want to explore the "real world" and move out to the stars.<BR/>I suspect that other civilizations would be no different. If that is the case, then you are still stuck asking the question, where are they?Just another technical bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04316152781051161770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-69779722151029094402008-05-14T23:47:00.000-04:002008-05-14T23:47:00.000-04:00George, how does your argument change if computron...George, how does your argument change if computronium turns out to be functionally impossible?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00976159633970180474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-73830237997348145732008-05-14T22:37:00.000-04:002008-05-14T22:37:00.000-04:00One thing that has puzzled me about all the logica...One thing that has puzzled me about all the logical arguments for detecting alien intelligence is the presumption of uncontrolled exponential growth. The non-exclusivity argument being a case in point - it treats the posited intelligence as being no smarter than bacteria or cancer in its expansion strategy.<BR/><BR/>Now suppose we do have a galaxy long since occupied by machine-based intelligences, probably making up an "ecosystem" of sorts in interstellar space. Such a civilization would have no particular need to dive into gravity wells such as Earth to sustain their resource needs. They probably wouldn't care much about biological infestations at the bottom of those gravity wells either, except as curiosities studied by eccentric "xenoanthropologists". <BR/><BR/>And the non-exclusivity argument? Well, what do we do when bacteria or cancer get out of control in our own bodies? As soon as they make enough damage to get noticed we stamp them out. Before that, they are ignored.<BR/><BR/>I think it's likely that we are the bacteria in this scenario, unable to see much beyond our immediate neighborhood. As long as we don't get troublesome we'll be ignored, because there's room for a few odd organisms in the galactic ecology. Space, after all, (to misquote Douglas Adams) is really big.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6753820.post-71298940620594979792008-05-14T22:32:00.000-04:002008-05-14T22:32:00.000-04:00I should put this link on Jamais's original post, ...I should put this link on Jamais's original post, too, but there was a very similar article this week on Centauri Dreams called "<A HREF="http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=1867" REL="nofollow">Rethinking Galactic Empire</A>." It touches on these same issues: the motivations of an advanced civilization and the problems with the Kardashev scale. Definitely worth a read.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com