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*Reflective Disequilibrium*: Spreading happiness to the stars seems little harder than just spreading

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Yes, if you can control a large fraction of the initial frontier of competitors, you can control a large fraction of the final space of non-burned resources, *if* you are patient to first compete as aggressively as the rest, and only use the oases after they have fallen too far behind the frontier to have much of a chance to make a difference there. But that does require a lot of foresight and self-control. Fortunately, programming self-control into a Von Neumann probe isn't the same problem as finding a human with that patience. You might look at the "Stay Behind" section in this paper: http://hanson.gmu.edu/hardscra.pdf It discusses this issue of switching to use oases once you've fallen too far behind the colonization frontier. Thanks Robin. Thanks for the update! Yes, probes carrying payload for non-reproductive purposes (hopefully a non-mutation goal system specifying the creation of hedonium with any disposable resources!) doesn't have to suffer completely. But it is at a disadva

*Reflective Disequilibrium*: Spreading happiness to the stars seems little harder than just spreading Monday, September 17, 2012 Spreading happiness to the stars seems little harder than just spreading Imagine there are two advanced interstellar civilizations near one another who begin outward colonization around the same time, in an otherwise uninhabited accessible universe. One civilization likes to create convert star systems into lots of people leading rich, happy lives full of interest and reward. Call them the Eudaimonians . The other is solely interested in expanding its sphere of colon

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