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The Fermi Paradox Chapter 8: Self-reproducing programs 3 Where are they? lead to a lunch-time question from Fermi: A morning discussion about extra-terrestrial life…
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Chap
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Chapter 8Self-reproducing computer programs
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Enrico Fermi, 1901-1954
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“The Pope”
fermium
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The Fermi Paradox
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Where are they?
lead to a lunch-time questionfrom Fermi:
A morning discussion aboutextra-terrestrial life…
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The Fermi Paradox…
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300,000 l-y300300,000 l-y
Milky Way
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The Fermi Paradox…•Our sun is a typical star• Billions of stars are billions of years older than the sun• Plenty of time for advanced cultures to explore the Milky Way
5Where are they?
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The Fermi Paradox…
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Where are they?
We don’t know
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John von Neumann, 1903-1957
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“the faste
st mind
I ever met”
“the cle
verest man I
ever knew, w
ithout
exception”
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John von Neumann, 1903-1957…• member of the Hungarian Phenomenon• the Martians of the Manhattan Project• von Neumann• Szilard• von Karman• Wigner• Teller
• strongly anti-communist 8
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John von Neumann, 1903-1957…• interested in self-replicating machines•von Neumann Universal Constructor
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von Neumann probesself-replicating probes
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von Neumann probes…current state of the art: 3D printing
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Artificial life
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Jewish folklore
Most famously,16th century Prague
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Artificial life…
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1770
Wolfgang von Kempelen
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Artificial life…
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Artificial life (A-Life)
Very contentious topic
Two general forms•Strong A-Life•Weak A-Life
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A-Life…Strong:
"life is a process which can be abstracted away from any particular medium“ (JvN)
Computer programs are not simulating life but are synthesizing itIn some sense it defines away the distinction 16
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A-Life…Weak:
Impossible to create life outside of a chemical medium.
Simulations useful to investigate underlying processes of biological life
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A-Life…
Some objections (Mitchell)•Autonomy•Metabolism•Self-replication•Survival drive•Evolution 18
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A-Life…Scale differences•biological processes have evolved into systems of daunting complexity• interactions at the scale of
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A-Life…Scale differences…•computational processes are currently scale limited to about• interactions
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A-Life…
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an adult hermaphrodite C. elegans worm
www.openworm.org
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Self-replication, DNA, interpreters, etc
Book draws attention to the fact that program self-replication does not include the interpreter, whereas DNA does.
A distinction without a difference?22
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Computer replication,evolution and
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TheSingularity
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Aside: the Institute for Advanced Study
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Aside: the IAS computer…
25“revenge of the sn
obs”
“no experimental science”
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