von Neumann probes, cults, and the eventual control of the cosmos

[Prepuce of Doom 21285]

I subscribe to an email list-serve that featured this article today. 

https://aeon.co/essays/cosmic-expansion-is-a-given-who-inherits-the-cosmos-is-not?

It's a small and thoughtful operation, so I don't want to strip them of the clicks by copypasting the entire essay (just a few of the intro paragraphs, but the whole thing is only 3,500 words).

I found it engaging and thought-provoking. It could have been stuck in any number of other threads, but I figured I'd give it its own... 

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Some time late this century, someone will push a button, unleashing a life force on the cosmos. Within 1,000 years, every star you can see at night will host intelligent life. In less than a million years, that life will saturate the entire Milky Way; in 20 million years – the local group of galaxies. In the fullness of cosmic time, thousands of superclusters of galaxies will be saturated in a forever-expanding sphere of influence, centred on Earth.

This won’t require exotic physics. The basic ingredients have been understood since the 1960s. What’s needed is an automated spacecraft that can locate worlds on which to land, build infrastructure, and eventually make copies of itself. The copies are then sent forth to do likewise – in other words, they are von Neumann probes (VNPs). We’ll stipulate a very fast one, travelling at a respectable fraction of the speed of light, with an extremely long range (able to coast between galaxies) and carrying an enormous trove of information. Ambitious, yes, but there’s nothing deal-breaking there.

Granted, I’m glossing over major problems and breakthroughs that will have to occur. But the engineering problems should be solvable. Super-sophisticated flying machines that locate resources to reproduce are not an abstract notion. I know the basic concept is practical, because fragments of such machines – each one a miracle of nanotechnology – have to be scraped from the windshield of my car, periodically. Meanwhile, the tech to boost tiny spacecraft to a good fraction of the speed of light is in active development right now, with Breakthrough Starshot and NASA’s Project Starlight.

(click link above for the rest, and if you're so inclined, I would recommend subscribing to their email list - lots of good stuff...) 

Edited January 8 by Prepuce of Doom