[mr_toad]

There’s a minimum level of energy consumption (and thus heat) that has to be produced by computation, just because of physics. However, modern computers generate billions of times more heat than this minimum level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landauer's_principle

[RhysU]

It'd be super fun to take that as an axiom of physics then to see how far upwards one could build from that. Above my skills by far.

[UltraSane]

The minimum amount of energy needed to compute decreased asymptotically to 0 as the temperature of space goes to 0. This is the reason a common sci-fi trope where advanced civilizations hibernate for extremely long times so that they can do more computation with available energy.

[ctmnt]

That’s a common trope? Can’t say I’ve run into it. But I’d like to! What are some good examples?

[Supermancho]

In the book Calculating God, a character notes that this is a common civilization-wide choice. Living in virtual reality, rather than trying to expand into the vast expanses of space, is a common trope as much as it's a logical choice. It neatly explains the Fermi Paradox. In some fiction, like The Matrix, the choice might be forced due to cultural shifts, but the outcome is the same. A relatively sterile low-energy state civilization doing pure processing.

[ithkuil]

I wonder if it's illogical to think that all civilizations must always pick the most logical of the options

[Supermancho]

Logical and optimum are not the same.

[yetihehe]

Those civilisations that make too much illogical choices probably die off.

[triMichael]

Kurzgesagt just made a video on it a couple months back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMm-U2pHrXE

[UltraSane]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestivation_hypothesis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9sh9NpL4i8

https://mindmatters.ai/2020/10/researchers-the-aliens-exist-...

https://aleph.se/andart2/space/the-aestivation-hypothesis-po...

[CamperBob2]

Here you go: https://pastebin.com/raw/SUd5sLRC

And it only cost 0.006 rain forests!

[ruined]

it's called the first law of thermodynamics

[RhysU]

The first law involves cwork. The axiom I am thinking of involves information.