On Jun 21, 2005, at 1:30 PM, Kevin Street wrote:
Warren Ockrassa wrote:
Suppose every civilization that could communicate becomes a homebody
because it likes gossip that takes less than eight million
subjective
years for a response (the subjective time to talk with someone on
Alpha Centuri)?
Kevin Street wrote:
That's a very interesting idea, but it assumes that every
civilization
eventually becomes AI in nature. What about all the carbon based
souls
out there?
Robert J. Chassell wrote:
Quick aside. Alpha Centauri is four lightyears away. Assuming a
conversation by radio, it would only be eight years' round trip, not
eight million. Radio waves propagate at lightspeed. Relativistic
mechanics don't enter the picture at all.
I believe Mr. Ockrassa was referring to the subjective time
experienced by
artificial intelligences that think one million times faster than we
do.
Hence, eight years becomes eight million subjective years.
This is pretty funny; you appear to have got the attributions inverted.
(It was Robert who was at the top, you in the middle, me at the
bottom.)
PS: No comments from the Peanut Gallery on that. ;)
--
Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books
http://books.nightwares.com/
Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror"
http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
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