X-Message-Number: 21615
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 13:44:06 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Re: Musings on the Singularity

Francois, #21607, writes in part:

>They will process information, they will process energy and they will 
>replicate. We can recognize all three in whatever form they occur. 
>Furthermore, their advanced technology will permit them to completely 
>process their native solar system into an habitat better suited to their 
>needs. Their increasing numbers will then require them to seek new places 
>to live. Neighboring star system will therefore be processed in the same 
>way, and then they will expand outward at near the speed of light, 
>completey converting their own Galaxy, then neighboring Galaxies, and 
>ultimately the entire Universe into habitats and artifacts. That is the 
>mindbogling but inescapable end product of the Singularity.

I don't see this "end product" as "inescapable" because I think 
"replication" is being over-emphasized. Replication means creating others 
like yourself. Advanced beings, I submit, will not do this. They may create 
new sentient beings, and those beings will no doubt bear certain 
similarities to their creators, but a close resemblance, such as exists 
presently between biological life forms and their offspring, does not 
necessarily follow. Overall, too, the rate of sentient creation will slow 
down considerably, or I should think it would, when the threat of death is 
no longer near. So the demands on the rest of the universe from our 
advanced civilization should not be so severe, and I don't see a desperate 
effort "at near the speed of light" to occupy the whole and convert it to 
habitations. True, survival will require some growth (ultimately, to avoid 
an eternal return in which previous mental states are endlessly revisited 
with no new experiences occurring), but hopefully this can be managed 
modestly within the confines of an ever-expanding universe. (Yes, I know 
there is no guarantee of this but one has to hope for something of the sort 
if immortality is to be possible.)

Mike Perry

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