John von Neumann wouldve been 111 today. In 11957 HE (1957 CE), he died aged 53 of bone or pancreatic cancer. In honor of his birthday, From Quarks to Quasars reviews one of his most imaginative concepts, the von Neumann probe - the most efficient method of galactic colonization. Assuming they do not develop translight warp drive technology, Kardashev scale Type III, or galactic, civilizations could employ von Neumann probes traveling at significant fractions of lightspeed to create an ever-expanding sphere of influence within which they could travel at lightspeed by transmitting their consciousnesses between nodes, similar to Star Treks transwarp beaming. A galaxy could then be fully-colonized within hundreds of thousands to a few tens of millions of years - a few cosmic moments. With warp capability, the concept would remain the most expedient means of traversing the cosmos.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 01:57:07 +0000
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