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- 8 Feb 2004
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Had a few beers and was pondering...
I think self replicating machines of any significant complexity must be paradoxical which disproves the whole von neumann probes theory of why the universe should be teaming with life... the great silence.... kardashev scales etc. you name it, it is gone!
Lets break it down... If we can define the complexity of a machine by its abilites such as the following list (for example). Obviously the more features the greater the complexity sum if you will.
Propulsion and navigation
Sensing/resoruce hunting
Descision making
Material and Energy Extraction
(to name but a few)
Lets say we add all of these together and gain a combined complexity of U+V+W+X=Z.... But now we have to incorporate the self replicating parameter... The lay person may think ok, just add Y in so the total complexity now becomes U+V+W+X+Y=Z+Y... Simple right? Well no because the paradox states that the fundamental need need to make something self-replicating will influence every parameter.... So maybe we should say (U+Z1)+(V+Z2)+(W+Z3)+(X+Z4)=Z+Z1+Z2+Z3+Z4+Z5.... And now we have the paradox because we also need to include the added complexity of self replication to the basic self replication complexity.... and then we just get complexity that equates to a sum to infinity (by definition).
In simple terms the added complexity of self replication of various abilities adds an ever growing level of complexity that must then be self replicable... and so on and so on..
Did a quick google but didnt hit any citations for self-replicating machine paradoxes so I think I must be on to something... I haven't fully thought this through and I am sure the maths is a little sketchy but I really believe I have come up with a unique bit of academic work here. Is anyone on here willing to help me flesh this out and perhaps we can look to publish a peer-reviewed journal paper? Would be pretty cool if we could list OcUK in the acknowledgements section - maybe we get some free stuff?
I think self replicating machines of any significant complexity must be paradoxical which disproves the whole von neumann probes theory of why the universe should be teaming with life... the great silence.... kardashev scales etc. you name it, it is gone!
Lets break it down... If we can define the complexity of a machine by its abilites such as the following list (for example). Obviously the more features the greater the complexity sum if you will.
Propulsion and navigation
Sensing/resoruce hunting
Descision making
Material and Energy Extraction
(to name but a few)
Lets say we add all of these together and gain a combined complexity of U+V+W+X=Z.... But now we have to incorporate the self replicating parameter... The lay person may think ok, just add Y in so the total complexity now becomes U+V+W+X+Y=Z+Y... Simple right? Well no because the paradox states that the fundamental need need to make something self-replicating will influence every parameter.... So maybe we should say (U+Z1)+(V+Z2)+(W+Z3)+(X+Z4)=Z+Z1+Z2+Z3+Z4+Z5.... And now we have the paradox because we also need to include the added complexity of self replication to the basic self replication complexity.... and then we just get complexity that equates to a sum to infinity (by definition).
In simple terms the added complexity of self replication of various abilities adds an ever growing level of complexity that must then be self replicable... and so on and so on..
Did a quick google but didnt hit any citations for self-replicating machine paradoxes so I think I must be on to something... I haven't fully thought this through and I am sure the maths is a little sketchy but I really believe I have come up with a unique bit of academic work here. Is anyone on here willing to help me flesh this out and perhaps we can look to publish a peer-reviewed journal paper? Would be pretty cool if we could list OcUK in the acknowledgements section - maybe we get some free stuff?
