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November 05, 2005
The physics of extra-terrestrial civilizations
Michio Kaku is interviewed on the subject of extra-terrestrial life (and addresses the same issues here). He makes good reference to Nicolai Kardashev's typology.
In science fiction, the search for inhabitable worlds has been immortalized on TV by heroic captains boldly commanding a lone star ship, or as the murderous Borg, a Type III civilization which absorbs lower Type II civilization (such as the Federation). However, the most mathematically efficient method to explore space is far less glamorous: to send fleets of "Von Neumann probes" throughout the galaxy (named after John Von Neumann, who established the mathematical laws of self-replicating systems).
Posted by Ghost of a flea at November 5, 2005 09:44 AM
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