A few different types of habitats

From: spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of John Frazer

> I consider SRS to be another unobtainium whiz-bang assumption.
> It seems possible, but we don't know how to do it and we don't
> know if/when several breakthroughs will allow it (A strong hint
> we have is that the only way it's been done in the past is
> biological, and tell me that isn't messy)

Oh, I don't know. It's easy for me to imagine a system that scoops up
soil, smelts out metals and silicon, builds all of the components of its
own construction, assembles a duplicate, and then copies its operating
system. A couple of important points are:

1. Having 100% closure would be great, but even an
only-partially-complete self-replication of 90 or 95% total system mass
would be a tremendous leg up. Past a point, O'Neill felt that
partially-self-replicating systems were an important requirement for
High Frontier.

2. Such a system would not necessarily require AI. Present computers
running current "follow this looping program line-by-line" software
could handle this. Bacteria don't have much in the way of intelligence,
but they are able to self-replicate.

Frankly, I expect macro systems capable of self-replication much sooner
than I expect nanotech replicators.

But one cautionary comment that I make to those who want to start
setting up replicators on the moon next year is that we'll see
replicators being unleashed on terrestrial deserts well before we see
them on the moon.

Regards,

Mike Combs