> A self replicator would quickly conquer the available resources
No it wouldn’t, if it didn’t want to.
Have we conquered our own solar system yet?
Or even our own planet? (You’d be surprised how much space is still unpopulated)
Unless you meant a perfectly automated replicator, but even then, like viruses, they would have limitations and face resistance from natural forces and distance, logistics etc.
Most of our solar system is pretty difficult to get to for humans (the overwhelmingly vast majority of those living today will never be in space), so why do you consider it as an available resource? It's like criticizing bacteria in a petri dish for failing to use the ample resources of a nearby supermarket.
> so why do you consider it as an available resource? It's like criticizing bacteria in a petri dish for failing to use the ample resources of a nearby supermarket.
Congratulations! You just realized why the Fermi Paradox is self-assuming tripe, or the concept of “Von Neumann probes”
I personally think it's the discovery of Proof of Work algorithms leading to dismantling of solar systems to build Dyson Spheres that capture a sun's energy to power miners. Possibly constructed by Von Neumann machines thinking about it :)
No it wouldn’t, if it didn’t want to.
Have we conquered our own solar system yet?
Or even our own planet? (You’d be surprised how much space is still unpopulated)
Unless you meant a perfectly automated replicator, but even then, like viruses, they would have limitations and face resistance from natural forces and distance, logistics etc.