Who needs von Neumann machines?

Space/Science » in reply to Tired of people implying technology is bad or humans are bad for using it

Who needs von Neumann machines?

ER — 2/4/2007 12:08:19 PM (archived)

The human body itself is a self-replicating von Neumann machine. So are all the other organisms we rely on.

The whole thread (73 posts)

Cultivating life on Earth and elsewhere. - SDF - 2/4/2007 7:10:38 AM
- SEND COMPOST n/t - father earth - 2/5/2007 12:02:57 AM
  - "Mars Needs Earthworms." (n/t) - TB - 2/9/2007 3:32:22 PM
    - I vaguely recall that in Farmer In the Sky Heinlein had them farming on asteroids. - alcaray - 2/9/2007 6:13:48 PM
      - re: I vaguely recall that in Farmer In the Sky Heinlein had them farming on asteroids. - R.L. - 2/9/2007 6:54:36 PM
        
        re: Farmer In the Sky - TB - 2/10/2007 5:52:11 AM
      - It was a jovian moon, I believe... - R.L. - 2/9/2007 6:51:52 PM
- Don't make it too complicated. - TB - 2/4/2007 10:25:41 PM
  - Most colonization has been done so that people can prosper - SDF - 2/4/2007 11:39:45 PM
    - And how do you pay for it? - Sawyer - 2/5/2007 10:09:01 AM
      - Paying for it... - R.L. - 2/11/2007 9:17:50 AM
        
        Funding exploration yes, colonization no. - Sawyer - 2/12/2007 9:03:38 AM
        
        re: Paying for it... - gbaikie - 2/11/2007 11:05:36 AM
    - Most life on Earth is window dressing. - Lee - 2/5/2007 5:03:49 AM
      - 100 species? - Doug Ellison - 2/8/2007 11:47:58 AM
        
        Look at experiments on this theme, like the Biosphere - nick hoffman - 2/11/2007 1:42:21 PM
        
        And there's 50+ thousand people at the Super Bowl. - Lee - 2/8/2007 8:21:29 PM
        
        re: And there's 50+ thousand people at the Super Bowl. - Doug Ellison - 2/9/2007 11:27:52 PM
      - You wouldn't by any chance have a list of those 100 essential species, would you? - SDF - 2/5/2007 7:15:52 AM
        
        It would take a while to make a specific list. - Lee - 2/5/2007 9:20:18 AM
        
        re: It would take a while to make a specific list. - Laurie Street - 2/5/2007 4:58:35 PM
        
        That's why it failed. - Lee - 2/5/2007 8:28:07 PM
        
        Actually, it was a CO2 problem - nick hoffman - 2/11/2007 1:51:32 PM
        
        Seems like some of the problems with Biosphere 2 would have been easy to fix. - SDF - 2/5/2007 6:13:56 PM
        
        Boom and bust - Laurie Street - 2/5/2007 7:12:02 PM
        
        Ecosystems - TB - 2/5/2007 9:47:06 PM
        
        re: Ecosystems - nick hoffman - 2/11/2007 1:56:44 PM
        
        Wasnt it Heinlien that made the point that no matter how good your recycling is in a small closed system... - R.L. - 2/9/2007 7:32:11 PM
        
        Lint = Cellulose - Scott Evil - 2/9/2007 11:06:04 PM
- re: The time factor - Raoul - 2/4/2007 8:27:29 PM
- I believe you're absolutely correct. - Bowser - 2/4/2007 8:08:03 PM
- re: Cultivating life on Earth and elsewhere. - gbaikie - 2/4/2007 1:04:06 PM
  - Terraforming socialistic? - ER - 2/4/2007 1:54:58 PM
    - Terraforming Sahara desert. - REB - 2/7/2007 6:35:12 PM
      - What about just making it a salt water marsh? - Scott Evil - 2/7/2007 8:34:10 PM
      - What about just making it a salt water marsh? - Scott Evil - 2/7/2007 8:34:07 PM
        
        re: What about just making it a salt water marsh? - REB - 2/7/2007 8:39:51 PM
        
        You wouldn't need nukes or asteriod strikes. - Scott Evil - 2/8/2007 5:20:50 PM
        
        Open Atlas before Opening Mouth... - nick hoffman - 2/11/2007 2:51:14 PM
        
        re: You wouldn't need nukes or asteriod strikes. - REB - 2/8/2007 5:37:58 PM
        
        re: You wouldn't need nukes or asteriod strikes. - Laurie Street - 2/8/2007 9:24:45 PM
        
        Then what are we going to do with all that salt? - Scott Evil - 2/9/2007 4:01:48 PM
        
        re: Then what are we going to do with all that salt? - LS - 2/9/2007 5:02:30 PM
        
        re: Must have been. - Scott Evil - 2/9/2007 11:25:52 PM
        
        Tele-Transporatation - nick hoffman - 2/13/2007 2:12:52 PM
        
        re: What about just making it a salt water marsh? - Laurie Street - 2/7/2007 10:05:06 PM
        
        re: What about just making it a salt water marsh? - REB - 2/7/2007 10:28:17 PM
        
        Actually, the "natural" state of the earth is glacial - nick hoffman - 2/11/2007 3:00:49 PM
        
        The "natural" state of humans is glacial, too. - Fox - 2/14/2007 4:54:01 AM
        
        But the Sun is gradually warming - REB - 2/12/2007 5:00:30 PM
    - re: Terraforming socialistic? - gbaikie - 2/4/2007 3:05:59 PM
      - re: Terraforming socialistic? - ER - 2/4/2007 3:30:17 PM
        
        re: Terraforming socialistic? - TB - 2/4/2007 10:38:30 PM
        
        re: Terraforming socialistic? - ER - 2/4/2007 11:28:26 PM
        
        re: Terraforming socialistic? - gbaikie - 2/5/2007 10:56:09 AM
        
        re: Terraforming socialistic? - TB - 2/4/2007 11:50:45 PM
- Tired of people implying technology is bad or humans are bad for using it - Sawyer - 2/4/2007 11:40:45 AM
  - Who needs von Neumann machines? - ER - 2/4/2007 12:08:19 PM
    - Not required--Just a predictable accelerant to the process (n/t) - Sawyer - 2/4/2007 12:14:11 PM
      - Just a Berserker thought... - ER - 2/4/2007 1:49:41 PM
        
        Off the topic of the thread - alcaray - 2/5/2007 7:07:39 PM
        
        Not familiar with it. (n/t) - ER - 2/5/2007 9:01:48 PM
        
        re: Not familiar with it. - alcaray - 2/5/2007 9:24:00 PM
        
        Self replicating doesn't mean it has to evolve - Sawyer - 2/4/2007 4:40:53 PM
        
        how do you keep something from changing over thousands of generations? (n/t) - alcaray - 2/5/2007 7:06:48 PM
        
        Multi-cellular automata? - ER - 2/4/2007 5:50:06 PM
        
        Evolution - TB - 2/4/2007 10:45:34 PM
        
        Carnivorous cows - Laurie Street - 2/5/2007 5:05:11 PM
        
        Just as long as they're not socialist carnivorous cows... (n/t) - ER - 2/5/2007 11:19:27 PM
        
        How about Revolutionary Cows? - TB - 2/6/2007 6:45:11 PM
        
        That was a riot! - Laurie Street - 2/7/2007 4:50:55 AM
        
        Bastille Bovines? Guerilla Guernseys? Liberal Longhorns? - ER - 2/7/2007 1:06:17 AM
        
        Or... - LS - 2/5/2007 5:12:29 PM

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