Evidence receipt / preference
Published · transcript-backedAndy Weir: preference
20 Dec 2017 Conversations with Tyler Andy Weir on the Economics of Sci-Fi and Space
“I think the best self-replicating machines are ourselves. I mean, we’re really a lot better at it than any machines that we’ll have by 2080.”
Source trail
Everything needed to verify it.
- Speaker
- Andy Weir
- Attribution
- Verified speaker
- Claim type
- preference
- Recorded
- 20 Dec 2017
- Publisher
- Conversations with Tyler
Transcript context
…They’ve talked to you and they think, “I’m going to send out some self-replicating Von Neumann probes, powered by solar energy.” And they’re going to try to seed the rest of the galaxy with life. Most people who try this will fail, but philanthropy is a somewhat unusual and diverse endeavor. And, in equilibrium, don’t societies that survive to the point where they can put beings on the Moon, on Mars, end up with self-replicating Von Neumann machines — and thus some version of panspermia is actually likely? I think the best self-replicating machines are ourselves. I mean, we’re really a lot better at it than any machines that we’ll have by 2080. I understand what you’re saying with the Von Neumann machines — Just send bacteria, right? It’s cheap.…
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