On 5/12/05, Robert J. Chassell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [Over the past two days, there have been two big developments, one > concerning pensions, the other concerning manufacturing.] > > More than two generations ago, von Neumann provided the mathematical > underpinnings to a self-replicating device. He referred to it as a > "Universal Constructor", but many call it a `von Neumann Machine'. > <snip> > But without humans around, you may end up with a mechanical ecology > like that described in James P. Hogan's 1983 science fiction novel, > `Code of the Lifemaker'(1). > > (Del Rey (1984), ISBN 0345305493, > Baen Books (2002), ISBN 0743435265 > see `http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker') > > Poul Anderson had a story in which a millennially lost space expedition returns to an earth with a mechanical ecosystem. There had been a war and sea-going robotic ship survivors mutated afterwards and gradually an ecosystem evolved.
-- Gary Denton Easter Lemming Blogs http://elemming.blogspot.com http://elemming2.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
