Defence of the species (semi serious)

[Aeson]

Also, once humans get planet destroying nanobots it's game over for us anyway ...

[Lorizael]

Wait. Why would anyone spend such fantastic amounts of money to kill off people so far away that they effectively don't exist?

There may come a point at which destroying alien civilizations is trivially easy, such that doing so requires no more effort (relatively speaking) than getting your vaccinations does today.

[KrazyHorse]

I wouldn't be stopped by fear of the police. I'd be stopped by "why the hell would I bother wasting some d-bag I'll never meet?" And blowing through a great deal of money to do it. Couldn't I, like, spend the money on other stuff? Hookers, blow, maybe just a lot of good meals? At this point, you're not talking about evil so much as utterly irrational.

You're not properly accounting for the game theoretic aspect of this. As long as the thing costs substantially less than the discounted future consumption of your entire society, then the rational move is to pay for it. In this case, that ratio is likely less than 1%, which makes the choice obvious.

[KrazyHorse]

I'm shocked that I haven't ever seen this proposal. I visit various places on the internet where such possibilities are the bread-and-butter of the community. Game theory + futurology + physics: the nerd trifecta

[giblets]

Yeah, I'm surprised there aren't more psychopaths contemplating genocide of aliens that might possibly exist using far-fetched means that may exist in the future.

[KrazyHorse]

I am but Johnny von Neumann's less capable child...

Look, I'm clearly a psychopath and (at least slightly) autistic - but the species should be glad it has people like me.

[Lorizael]

Look, I'm clearly a psychopath and (at least slightly) autistic - but the species should be glad it has people like me.

Niven had paranoid schizophrenics protecting the UN.

[KrazyHorse]

I forgot about that...

[Aeson]

You need to also account for the possibility that earth is already under surveillance by a benevolent or disinterested power, and any such project would trigger the end of humanity.

And that we probably are nowhere near a perfect understanding of the universe.

And that humanity is likely nowhere near the first or most advanced.

And that being alive isn't actually a good thing if you are space Hitler.

[Elok]

There may come a point at which destroying alien civilizations is trivially easy, such that doing so requires no more effort (relatively speaking) than getting your vaccinations does today.

Dumping the R and D into designing and manufacturing micro-machines doomsday weapons doesn't sound trivially easy, unless for some reason these wee deathbombs get discovered incidentally as some application of an actually useful technology. Which doesn't seem at all likely. I'd worry far more about the asteroid impact thing, as it doesn't require you to believe in Planet Crickit from the HHGTTG sequels.

[ZEE]

1) cease any active-seti efforts

This seems counter-productive as you are tying to LOOK for aliens to destroy. I would think SETI would help you do that.

Niven had paranoid schizophrenics protecting the UN.

I know you have ignored all my poasts since like 2007 or so but if you by some miracle read this poast I want you to know, once and for all, that AAHZ is certified schizoaffective.

[The Mad Monk]

Also, once humans get planet destroying nanobots it's game over for us anyway ...

Grey Goo. A strange game. It appears that the only way to win is not to play...

[The Mad Monk]

This seems counter-productive as you are tying to LOOK for aliens to destroy. I would think SETI would help you do that.

ACTIVE versus PASSIVE. Like an active IR system would paint the surrounding area with an IR "searchlight", whereas a passive IR system would simply measure differences from the IR background.

[The Mad Monk]

12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET

This guy displaced Killdozer in your heart? This guy???

[BeBMan]

Hm, how can we make sure those nano bots we delivered don't get bored once they wiped out the other civ, and start to tech-evolve into something else just for the fun of it? Like something that comes back to bite us into our collective asses, put us into the matrix or something???

However, if that is indeed the best option to deal with other civs, could we expect to see much of the galaxy populated by nanobots, or at least find remnants of the nanobot apocalypse on many worlds?