Re: Long term nuclear waste disposal

From: Corey Murtagh (emonk_at_slingshot.no.uce)
Date: 06/30/04 

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 18:33:47 +1200

Programmer Dude wrote:
<snip>
> Which brings us back to, if it's *possible* for a small machine to
> self-replicate to the extinction of all else... why hasn't it already
> happened? Luck?

Presumably this kind of phenomenon would be restricted in scope to a
planetary scale. Interplanetary - or even interstellar - contamination
may be possible, but I'd also assume that certain limits would exist.
For example, if you dropped a mass of these self-replicating machines
into the heart of a star, would they survive the experience and begin
converting the star's matter into new replicants? Probably not, would
be my guess.

So having established some scope limits on the infestation, can we be
absolutely certain that the situation hasn't arisen somewhere in the
universe? We can barely detect the existance massive planets around
nearby stars as it is, so if something like that had happened even
nearby in our stellar neighbourhood, how would we know? :>

Remember: "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's
stranger than we /can/ imagine." 

-- 
Corey Murtagh
The Electric Monk
"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur!"

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Long term nuclear waste disposal
    ... > self-replicate to the extinction of all else... ... nearby stars as it is, so if something like that had happened even ... "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, ...
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  • Re: Long term nuclear waste disposal
    ... > self-replicate to the extinction of all else... ... nearby stars as it is, so if something like that had happened even ... "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, ...
    (comp.lang.c)