Hankofthechill - Hank Of The Chill

50 Songs by the Dear Hunter

   5. The Lake and the River

“His branches reached so far before his leaves were bold extremities with great control, wasted along; he died alone.”

Pierce The Veil - Circles

I really want to suck on some black dick right now 🫠

Come out from the dark, And claim your life before you, All but fall apart. […] Cause the only truth he ever told, Was there’s far too many ways to die.

Córdoba - Spain (by Antonio Martinez) 

✨✨Gearing Up✨✨

Procrastinating/Pepping myself to do some HW 😅

💞Let me know what kind of things you’d like to see in the future 💞✨💦

What are von Neumann machines?

Decades ago, scholars found that it’s theoretically possible to not just spread human civilization across the galaxy, but to do so quite quickly, without breaking any known laws of physics. Their idea is based on the work of a mathematician named John von Neumann, who designed on paper machines that could self-replicate and create new generations of themselves. These would later come to be known as von Neumann machines.

In the context of space exploration, von Neumann machines could be built on Earth and launched into space. There, the self-sufficient machines would land on distant planets. They would then mine the available resources and harvest energy, build replicas of themselves, launch those to the nearest planets, and continue the cycle. The result is the creation of millions of probes spreading outwards into the universe like a drop of ink in a fishbowl.

Scholars crunched the numbers and found that a single von Neumann machine traveling at 5% of the speed of light should be able to replicate throughout our galaxy in 4 million years or less. That may sound like a long time, but when you consider that our universe is 14 billion years old, on a cosmic scale, it’s incredibly fast - the equivalent of about 2.5 hours in an entire year.

Creating von Neumann machines would require a few technologies we don’t have yet, including advanced artificial intelligence, miniaturization, and better propulsion systems. If we wanted to use them to spread actual humans throughout the galaxy, we would need yet another technological leap - the ability to artificially grow biological organisms and bodies using raw elements and genetic information.

Regardless, if in the last billion years an alien civilization created such a machine and set it multiplying its way toward us, our galaxy would be swarming with them by now. So then where are all these machines? Some astronomers, like Carl Sagan, say that intelligent aliens wouldn’t build self-replicating machines at all. They might hurtle out of control, scavenging planets to their cores in order to keep replicating. Others take the machines absence as proof that intelligent alien civilizations don’t exist, or that they go extinct before they can develop the necessary technologies.

But all this hasn’t stopped people from imagining what it would be like if they were out there. Science fiction author David Brin writes about a universe in which many different von Neumann machines exist and proliferate simultaneously. Some are designed to greet young civilizations, others to locate and destroy them before they become a threat. For now, all we have is curiosity and theory. But the next time you look at the night sky, consider that billions of self-replicating machines could be advancing between stars in our galaxy right now. If they exist, one of them will eventually land on Earth, or maybe, just maybe, they’re already here.

From the TED-Ed Lesson Could human civilization spread across the whole galaxy? - Roey Tzezana

Animation by Eion Duffy

BRAND Steakhouse at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino turns the classic Old Fashioned on its head with premium Japanese whisky and smoked maple syrup. (21+)

End of me // A Day To Remember

Pierce The Veil - Circles