Bryan's von Neumann probe implementation notes

Keywords: atom holography, atom manipulator, Bose-Einstein Condensates, matter-wave beam, atom laser, atom beam, atom optics, von Neumann probe, von Neumann universal machine, nanotechnology, Drexler, von Neumann, Wolfram, Ketterle, Center for Bits and Atoms, ...

von Neumann probe; inc. turing or vonneumann computation architecture and vonneumann/Drexler constructor as an implementation of g�delean/aristotlean causical production machine.

What's needed is mathematical analysis to show limits of construction and computation due to finite limits of the universe, though this might be able to wait (?).

Atom-bit conversion - translate from abstraction and computation into physical implementation (atoms).




von Neumann Award -- found here.


The basic idea of a von Neumann probe is to have a space-probe that is able to navigate the galaxy and use self-replication (see RepRap and bio). The probe would contain hundreds of thousands of digital genomes (sequenced DNA), DNA synthesizers and sequencers, bacteria, embryos, stem cells, copies of the Internet Archive and a significant portion of the WWW in general, plus the immediate means and tools to copy all of the information and create a material embodiment, kind of like running an unzip utility on top of the thousands of exabytes predicted to be inexistence today. This would probably include many people, societies, even entire civilizations if we can collect enough data and begin to 'debug' civilization. The system might end up using an ion drive and a hydrogen collector, with on-board nucleosynthesis to create the biomolecules necessary for life, plus ways to attach to asteroids and begin replicating and copying the data and biomaterials.

Self-replication is, in general, an interesting problem. See the Center for Bits and Atoms, RepRap, some MNT websites, etc. In debates and discussions in wta-talk and extropy-chat, there has been many a suggestion that mastery of self-replication will lead to post-scarcity economics or acceleration in some way-shape-or-form. The three methods mentioned on this page are (1) atom holography (generally: precision control of matter/energy), (2) molecular nanotechnology (MNT), and (3) bacterial bootstrapping (with the open source synbio/biohacking community, biobricks, the synbio mailing list, Endy/Weiss/Tom Knight/etc.), though RepRap might get to it first with the 3D fabricators. An often unexplored and unmentioned method is semiconductor manufacturing but a good first step would be a si-fab that can make a fab on a chip.

The idea of the von Neumann universal constructor is that of some machine that is able to construct all possible structures within some given environment, including itself. Molecular nanotechnology (MNT) is an important alternative to investigate along-side atom holography technologies.

Important systems:
Construction of an atom laser

Spacecraft design bibliography
JILA Bose-Einstein Condensation bibliography
Atom laser bibliography
Georgia Southern BEC bibliography (huge)
Atom mirror bibliography
Easy BEC for everyone with helpful implementation notes and Lewandowski's simplified system for creating a BEC.

Ketterle's techniques (see: 2002 continuous atom laser achieved by the creation of BEC next to some stored BEC that is being used for output, esimated 10^8 atoms output(?).)

Eindhoven nanobrush which states, `Imagine having a brush with a sub-100 nm tip, with which you could paint ultrafine metal lines fast but gently on an arbitrary surface - you could repair expensive prototype chips, interconnect fragile organic single-molecule transistors, create complicated novel devices with structured doping techniques, .......We aim to construct just such a "nanobrush" or "nanopen" in this new project`.

Sam's Laser FAQ on home-built helium-neon (HeNe) laser
How to create ultra high vacuum system
The Schmaus vacuum technology page
Copper Tube Handbook
the Bell Jar - Vacuum Technique for the Amateur
Suggested reading on vacuum-tube electronic design
More vacuum basics
Textbooks on vacuum science and technology
Vacuum techniques
Publications on vacuum techniques
Technical bibliography for aluminum ultrahigh vacuum chamber material
Wolrd-wide-vacuum (has some links to places for ultrahigh vacuum)
Vacuum technique
[pdf] Introduction to vacuum tech
Google.com directory on vacuum physics
Vacuum tech
[pdf] History of vacuum devices
[pdf] Vacuum references
Technical notes on vacuum systems
More vacuum bibliography
General vacuum page, or "wacuum"



Rockets

Scope: ability to launch/land, reusability, precision control of movement, some renewable energy supply (ion drive -> solar cells?)

Self-replication

This imposes many restraints on the design of the system. For example, the system may not use materials or elements that are difficult to find in the galaxy.

On-board computation




Check out the open source aerospace community.
Sipper's artificial self-replication page

Bryan Bishop (kanzure)
kanzure@gmail.com