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A comment on There Probably Have Been Aliens. Parent comment

Re:There Probably Have Been Aliens by neaden on Monday January 23, 2017 @12:44PM (#13464034)
Yeah, Bracewell/Von Neuman probes[0]. You create an AI in a probe that can communicate in a variety of ways and replicate itself and send it off into space. IIRC it would conservatively take about a million years for a civilization to blanket the galaxy in them.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracewell_probe

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Re:There Probably Have Been Aliens by pklausler on Monday January 23, 2017 @12:46PM (#13464056)
Communication seems to be optional.
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Re:There Probably Have Been Aliens by jessaustin on Monday January 23, 2017 @12:52PM (#13464131)
It isn't obvious that communication by such "probes" would take place on a medium that we can currently sense. Which may be what you meant?
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Re:There Probably Have Been Aliens by zingermc on Monday January 23, 2017 @01:23PM (#13464462)
Sounds like a good way to turn the galaxy into grey goo.
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