MACHINE INTELLIGENCE, THE COST OF INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND FERMI PARADOX

If machine intelligence is possible, and the computers on which it is based resemble today's computers in some very fundamental aspects, the n interstellar travel can be accomplished by data exchange as opposed to the physical movement of matter. Assuming data exchange by radio, s uch travel is many orders of magnitude cheaper than physical travel. T his low cost provides a huge incentive for an emerging society to join an existing galactic civilization as opposed to physically colonizing the galaxy. It is likely, therefore, that there is at most one advanc ed civilization per galaxy. This civilization may well have unified go als and objectives, thus removing the strongest underpinning of Fermi' s paradox. Also included is a detailed analysis of the cost of interst ellar communication by radio, considering both energy costs and fixed asset (antenna) costs. This analysis shows that deliberate communicati on is quite cheap, and eavesdropping is probably futile.