| > Yes really, and tautologically regardless of if it's piecemeal or sudden. You don't have to do it all from scratch. First variation can be built by humans, then the rest can be maintained by machines long term. It's like bootstrapping a compiler versus having compiler write/build itself and hardware. > I'm looking at one right now: myself. Specifically, my fingers as I type this, because all life meets the criteria of a VN machine. You aren't a Von Neumann replicator. Or at least not a useful one. No human can construct hammer, chairs and PCs given sequence of DNA. Unless you have to learn it yourself, which defeats the purpose, or you have to raise a new one from scratch for 18 years. Previous statement indicated that they are necessary for full automation, implying they are useful when it comes to generating artifacts useful for humans. > The sun is more stable than Earth's orbit and we're using it already. And self-replicating mechanisms ("life") have been running on it for billions of years before we came along. Sun is stable? Could have fooled me. How are the solar flares? |