> Now here is my question, it's going to sound
silly but there is quite a
> bit behind it:
>
> "Of what use is computronium to a superintelligence?"
>
> bit behind it:
>
> "Of what use is computronium to a superintelligence?"
>
If the superintelligence perceives a need for vast computational resources,
then computronium would indeed be very useful. Assuming said SI is
friendly to humans, one thing I can think of that *may* need such power would be
certain megascale engineering projects. Keeping track of everything
involved in, for example, opening a wormhole could require unimaginable
resources. (this is just a wild guess, aside from a Stephen Hawking book or two,
I'm rather clueless when it comes to quantum-ish stuff).
The smaller, more compact the components are in a
system, the closer they can be to each other, reducing speed of light
communications delays. By my reasoning that is the only real advantage of
computronium (unless energy efficiency is an
overwhelming concern).
This is getting sorta off track,
but...
Imagine if one could create a new universe, and
then move into it. This universe would be however you want it to be; you are
omniscient and omnipotent within it. There are no limits once you move
in. In some sense, you could consider making such a universe a 'goal to
end all goals', since literally anything that the creator wishes is possible and
easy within the new universe.
Assuming all the above, the issue becomes 'what
resources are required to reach the be-all end-all of goals?'
All of the energy of the visible universe, and 10
trillion years could be the minimum. Or... the matter (converted to energy
and computational structures) that makes up a single 50km object in the asteroid
belt could be enough. At this point in time, we have no way of even making
an educated guess. If the requirements are towards the low end of the scale,
even an AI with insane ambitions to godhood wouldn't need to turn the whole
solar system into computronium
J Standley
