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class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Debate on Fermi's paradox</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Debate_on_Fermi's_paradox-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Applications_for_self-replicating_spacecraft" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Applications_for_self-replicating_spacecraft"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>Applications for self-replicating spacecraft</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Applications_for_self-replicating_spacecraft-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Applications for self-replicating spacecraft subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Applications_for_self-replicating_spacecraft-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-Von_Neumann_probes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Von_Neumann_probes"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.1</span> <span>Von Neumann probes</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Von_Neumann_probes-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Berserkers" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Berserkers"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.2</span> <span>Berserkers</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Berserkers-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Replicating_seeder_ships" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Replicating_seeder_ships"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3.3</span> <span>Replicating seeder ships</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Replicating_seeder_ships-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-In_fiction" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 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futurists and has been discussed across a wide breadth of <a href="/wiki/Hard_science_fiction" title="Hard science fiction">hard science fiction</a> novels and stories. Self-replicating probes are sometimes referred to as <b>von Neumann probes.</b> Self-replicating spacecraft would in some ways either mimic or echo the features of <a href="/wiki/Living_organism" class="mw-redirect" title="Living organism">living organisms</a> or <a href="/wiki/Virus" title="Virus">viruses.</a><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Theory">Theory</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Theory"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Von Neumann argued that the most effective way of performing large-scale mining operations such as mining an entire <a href="/wiki/Natural_satellite" title="Natural satellite">moon</a> or <a href="/wiki/Asteroid_belt" title="Asteroid belt">asteroid belt</a> would be by self-replicating spacecraft, taking advantage of their <a href="/wiki/Exponential_growth" title="Exponential growth">exponential growth</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Frietas1980_2-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Frietas1980-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> In theory, a self-replicating spacecraft could be sent to a neighbouring planetary system, where it would seek out raw materials (extracted from <a href="/wiki/Asteroid" title="Asteroid">asteroids</a>, <a href="/wiki/Natural_satellite" title="Natural satellite">moons</a>, <a href="/wiki/Gas_giant" title="Gas giant">gas giants</a>, etc.) to create replicas of itself. These replicas would then be sent out to other planetary systems. The original "parent" probe could then pursue its primary purpose within the star system. This mission varies widely depending on the variant of self-replicating starship proposed. </p><p>Given this pattern, and its similarity to the reproduction patterns of bacteria, it has been pointed out that von Neumann machines might be considered a form of life. In his short story "Lungfish" (see <a href="/wiki/Self-replicating_machines_in_fiction" class="mw-redirect" title="Self-replicating machines in fiction">Self-replicating machines in fiction</a>), <a href="/wiki/David_Brin" title="David Brin">David Brin</a> touches on this idea, pointing out that self-replicating machines launched by different species might actually compete with one another (in a <a href="/wiki/Darwinism" title="Darwinism">Darwinistic</a> fashion) for raw material, or even have conflicting missions. Given enough variety of "species" they might even form a type of ecology, or – should they also have a form of <a href="/wiki/Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">artificial intelligence</a> – a society. They may even mutate with untold thousands of "generations". </p><p>The first quantitative engineering analysis of such a spacecraft was published in 1980 by <a href="/wiki/Robert_Freitas" title="Robert Freitas">Robert Freitas</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-Frietas1980_2-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Frietas1980-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> in which the non-replicating <a href="/wiki/Project_Daedalus" title="Project Daedalus">Project Daedalus</a> design was modified to include all subsystems necessary for self-replication. The design's strategy was to use the probe to deliver a "seed" factory with a mass of about 443 tons to a distant site, have the seed factory produce many copies of itself there to increase its total manufacturing capacity over a 500-year period, and then use the resulting <a href="/wiki/Automatic_factory" class="mw-redirect" title="Automatic factory">automated industrial complex</a> to construct more probes with a single seed factory on board each. </p><p>It has been theorized<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> that a self-replicating starship utilizing relatively conventional theoretical methods of interstellar travel (i.e., no exotic <a href="/wiki/Faster-than-light" title="Faster-than-light">faster-than-light</a> propulsion, and speeds limited to an "average cruising speed" of 0.1<b><a href="/wiki/Speed_of_light" title="Speed of light">c</a></b>.) could spread throughout a <a href="/wiki/Galaxy" title="Galaxy">galaxy</a> the size of the <a href="/wiki/Milky_Way" title="Milky Way">Milky Way</a> in as little as half a million years. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Debate_on_Fermi's_paradox"><span id="Debate_on_Fermi.27s_paradox"></span>Debate on Fermi's paradox</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Debate on Fermi's paradox"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In 1981, <a href="/wiki/Frank_Tipler" class="mw-redirect" title="Frank Tipler">Frank Tipler</a><sup id="cite_ref-Tipler_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Tipler-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> put forth an argument that <a href="/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life" title="Extraterrestrial life">extraterrestrial</a> intelligences do not exist, based on the fact that von Neumann probes have not been observed. Given even a moderate rate of replication and the history of the galaxy, such probes should already be common throughout space and thus, we should have already encountered them. Because we have not, this shows that extraterrestrial intelligences do not exist. This is thus a resolution to the <a href="/wiki/Fermi_paradox" title="Fermi paradox">Fermi paradox</a> – that is, the question of why we have not <i>already</i> encountered extraterrestrial intelligence if it is common throughout the universe. </p><p>A response<sup id="cite_ref-Sagan_and_Newman_5-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Sagan_and_Newman-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> came from <a href="/wiki/Carl_Sagan" title="Carl Sagan">Carl Sagan</a> and William Newman. Now known as <i>Sagan's Response</i>,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> it pointed out that in fact Tipler had underestimated the rate of replication, and that von Neumann probes should have already started to consume most of the mass in the galaxy. Any intelligent race would therefore, Sagan and Newman reasoned, not design von Neumann probes in the first place, and would try to destroy any von Neumann probes found as soon as they were detected. As Robert Freitas<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> has pointed out, the assumed capacity of von Neumann probes described by both sides of the debate is unlikely in reality, and more modestly reproducing systems are unlikely to be observable in their effects on our solar system or the galaxy as a whole. </p><p>Another objection to the prevalence of von Neumann probes is that civilizations that could potentially create such devices may have a high probability of self-destruction before being capable of producing such machines. This could be through events such as <a href="/wiki/Biological_warfare" title="Biological warfare">biological</a> or <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_warfare" title="Nuclear warfare">nuclear warfare</a>, <a href="/wiki/Grey_goo" class="mw-redirect" title="Grey goo">nanoterrorism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Resource_depletion" title="Resource depletion">resource exhaustion</a>, <a href="/wiki/Environmental_disaster" title="Environmental disaster">ecological catastrophe</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Pandemic" title="Pandemic">pandemics</a>. This obstacle to the creation of von Neumann probes is one potential candidate for the concept of a <a href="/wiki/Great_Filter" title="Great Filter">Great Filter</a>. </p><p>Simple workarounds exist to avoid the over-replication scenario. Radio transmitters, or other means of wireless communication, could be used by probes programmed not to replicate beyond a certain density (such as five probes per cubic <a href="/wiki/Parsec" title="Parsec">parsec</a>) or arbitrary limit (such as ten million within one century), analogous to the <a href="/wiki/Hayflick_limit" title="Hayflick limit">Hayflick limit</a> in cell reproduction. One problem with this defence against uncontrolled replication is that it would only require a single probe to malfunction and begin unrestricted reproduction for the entire approach to fail – essentially a technological cancer – unless each probe also has the ability to detect such malfunction in its neighbours and implements a seek and destroy protocol (which in turn could lead to probe-on-probe space wars if faulty probes first managed to multiply to high numbers before they were found by sound ones, which could then well have programming to replicate to matching numbers so as to manage the infestation). Another workaround is based on the need for spacecraft heating during long interstellar travel. The use of plutonium as a thermal source would limit the ability to self-replicate. The spacecraft would have no programming to make more plutonium even if it found the required raw materials. Another is to program the spacecraft with a clear understanding of the dangers of uncontrolled replication. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Applications_for_self-replicating_spacecraft">Applications for self-replicating spacecraft</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Applications for self-replicating spacecraft"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>The details of the mission of self-replicating starships can vary widely from proposal to proposal, and the only common trait is the self-replicating nature. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Von_Neumann_probes">Von Neumann probes</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Von Neumann probes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>A von Neumann probe is a spacecraft capable of replicating itself.<sup id="cite_ref-Frietas1980_2-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Frietas1980-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is a concatenation of two concepts: a <a href="/wiki/Von_Neumann_universal_constructor" title="Von Neumann universal constructor">Von Neumann universal constructor</a> (self-replicating machine) and a probe (an instrument to explore or examine something).<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> The concept is named after <a href="/wiki/Hungarian_American" class="mw-redirect" title="Hungarian American">Hungarian American</a> mathematician and <a href="/wiki/Physicist" title="Physicist">physicist</a> <a href="/wiki/John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">John von Neumann</a>, who rigorously studied the concept of self-replicating machines that he called "Universal Assemblers" and which are often referred to as "<a href="/wiki/Self-replicating_machine" title="Self-replicating machine">von Neumann machines</a>".<sup id="cite_ref-Frietas1980_2-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Frietas1980-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Such constructs could be theorised to comprise five basic components (variations of this template could create other machines such as <a href="/wiki/Bracewell_probe" title="Bracewell probe">Bracewell probes</a><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Technical_language" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style"><span title="The material near this tag may be using jargon that limits the article's accessibility. (June 2023)">jargon</span></a></i>]</sup>): </p> <ul><li><i>Probe</i>: which would contain the actual probing instruments & goal-directed AI to guide the construct.</li> <li><i>Life-support systems</i>: mechanisms to repair and maintain the construct.</li> <li><i>Factory</i>: mechanisms to harvest resources & replicate itself.</li> <li><i>Memory banks</i>: store programs for all its components & information gained by the probe.</li> <li><i>Engine</i>: motor to move the probe.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></li></ul> <p>Andreas M. Hein and science fiction author <a href="/wiki/Stephen_Baxter_(author)" title="Stephen Baxter (author)">Stephen Baxter</a> proposed different types of von Neumann probes, termed "Philosopher" and "Founder", where the purpose of the former is exploration and for the latter preparing future settlement.<sup id="cite_ref-Hein_Baxter_p._7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hein_Baxter_p.-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="noprint Inline-Template noprint noexcerpt Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTRS" class="mw-redirect" title="Wikipedia:NOTRS"><span title="This claim needs references to better sources. (June 2023)">better source needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>A near-term concept of a self-replicating probe has been proposed by the <a href="/wiki/Initiative_for_Interstellar_Studies" title="Initiative for Interstellar Studies">Initiative for Interstellar Studies</a>,<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="margin-left:0.1em; white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_clarify" title="Wikipedia:Please clarify"><span title="The text near this tag may need clarification or removal of jargon. (June 2023)">clarification needed</span></a></i>]</sup> achieving about 70% self-replication, based on current and near-term technologies.<sup id="cite_ref-Borgue_Hein_2021_pp._546–556_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Borgue_Hein_2021_pp._546–556-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>If a self-replicating probe finds evidence of primitive life (or a primitive, low-level culture) it might be programmed to lie dormant, silently observe, attempt to make contact (this variant is known as a <a href="/wiki/Bracewell_probe" title="Bracewell probe">Bracewell probe</a>),<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Technical_language" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style"><span title="The material near this tag may be using jargon that limits the article's accessibility. (June 2023)">jargon</span></a></i>]</sup> or even interfere with or guide the evolution of life in some way.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>Physicist <a href="/wiki/Paul_Davies" title="Paul Davies">Paul Davies</a> of <a href="/wiki/University_of_Adelaide" title="University of Adelaide">University of Adelaide</a> has "raised the possibility of a probe resting on our own <a href="/wiki/Moon" title="Moon">Moon</a>", having arrived at some point in Earth's ancient prehistory and remained to monitor Earth, a concept that, per <a href="/wiki/Michio_Kaku" title="Michio Kaku">Michio Kaku</a>, was what <a href="/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick" title="Stanley Kubrick">Stanley Kubrick</a> used as the basis of his <a href="/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)" class="mw-redirect" title="2001: A Space Odyssey (film)">film, <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i></a> (though the director cut the relevant monolith scene from the movie).<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Kubrick's work was based on Arthur C. Clarke's story, "<a href="/wiki/The_Sentinel_(short_story)" title="The Sentinel (short story)">The Sentinel</a>", expanded by the pair in the form of a novel that became the basis for the movie <sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and so Davies' lunar probe/observatory concept is also considered reminiscent of Clarke.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>A variant idea on the interstellar von Neumann probe idea is that of the "<a href="/wiki/Astrochicken" title="Astrochicken">Astrochicken</a>", proposed by <a href="/wiki/Freeman_Dyson" title="Freeman Dyson">Freeman Dyson</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> While it has the common traits of self-replication, exploration, and communication with its "home base", Dyson conceived the Astrochicken to explore and operate within our own <a href="/wiki/Planetary_system" title="Planetary system">planetary system</a>, and not explore interstellar space.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (June 2023)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p><a href="/wiki/Anders_Sandberg" title="Anders Sandberg">Anders Sandberg</a> and Stuart Armstrong argued that launching the colonization of the entire reachable universe through self-replicating probes is well within the capabilities of a star-spanning civilization, and proposed a theoretical approach for achieving it in 32 years, by mining planet Mercury for resources and constructing a <a href="/wiki/Dyson_sphere#Dyson_swarm" title="Dyson sphere">Dyson Swarm</a> around the Sun.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Berserkers">Berserkers</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Berserkers"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1251242444">.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}</style><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Self-replicating_spacecraft" title="Special:EditPage/Self-replicating spacecraft">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">September 2018</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A variant of the self-replicating starship is the <i><a href="/wiki/Berserker_hypothesis" title="Berserker hypothesis">Berserker</a></i>. Unlike the benign probe concept, Berserkers are programmed to seek out and exterminate lifeforms and life-bearing <a href="/wiki/Exoplanets" class="mw-redirect" title="Exoplanets">exoplanets</a> whenever they are encountered. </p><p>The name is derived from the <i><a href="/wiki/Berserker_(Saberhagen)" class="mw-redirect" title="Berserker (Saberhagen)">Berserker</a></i> series of novels by <a href="/wiki/Fred_Saberhagen" title="Fred Saberhagen">Fred Saberhagen</a> which describes a war between humanity and such machines. Saberhagen points out (through one of his characters) that the Berserker warships in his novels are not von Neumann machines themselves, but the larger complex of Berserker machines – including automated shipyards – <i>do</i> constitute a von Neumann machine. This again brings up the concept of an ecology of von Neumann machines, or even a von Neumann hive entity. </p><p>It is speculated in fiction that Berserkers could be created and launched by a <a href="/wiki/Xenophobia" title="Xenophobia">xenophobic</a> civilization (see <i><a href="/wiki/Anvil_of_Stars" title="Anvil of Stars">Anvil of Stars</a></i>, by <a href="/wiki/Greg_Bear" title="Greg Bear">Greg Bear</a>, in the section <a href="#In_fiction">In fiction</a> below) or could theoretically "mutate" from a more benign probe. For instance, a von Neumann ship designed for <a href="/wiki/Terraforming" title="Terraforming">terraforming</a> processes – mining a planet's surface and adjusting its atmosphere to more human-friendly conditions – could be interpreted as attacking previously inhabited planets, killing their inhabitants in the process of changing the planetary environment, and then self-replicating to dispatch more ships to "attack" other planets. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Replicating_seeder_ships">Replicating seeder ships</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Replicating seeder ships"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>Yet another variant on the idea of the self-replicating starship is that of the seeder ship. Such starships might store the genetic patterns of lifeforms from their home world, perhaps even of the species which created it. Upon finding a habitable <a href="/wiki/Exoplanet" title="Exoplanet">exoplanet</a>, or even one that might be <a href="/wiki/Terraforming" title="Terraforming">terraformed</a>, it would try to replicate such lifeforms – either from <a href="/wiki/Embryo_space_colonization" title="Embryo space colonization">stored embryos</a> or from stored information using <a href="/wiki/Molecular_nanotechnology" title="Molecular nanotechnology">molecular nanotechnology</a> to build <a href="/wiki/Zygotes" class="mw-redirect" title="Zygotes">zygotes</a> with varying genetic information from local raw materials.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>Such ships might be terraforming vessels, preparing colony worlds for later colonization by other vessels, or – should they be programmed to recreate, raise, and educate individuals of the species that created it – self-replicating colonizers themselves. Seeder ships would be a suitable alternative to <a href="/wiki/Generation_ship" title="Generation ship">generation ships</a> as a way to colonize worlds too distant to travel to in one lifetime. </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="In_fiction">In fiction</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: In fiction"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-In_popular_culture plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><span><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/40px-Ambox_important.svg.png" decoding="async" width="40" height="40" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/60px-Ambox_important.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg/80px-Ambox_important.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="40" data-file-height="40" /></span></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This article <b>may contain <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_an_indiscriminate_collection_of_information" title="Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not">irrelevant</a> references to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Trivia_sections#"In_popular_culture"_and_"Cultural_references"_material" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trivia sections">popular culture</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help Wikipedia to <a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit">improve this article</a> by removing the content or adding <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">citations</a> to <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources" title="Wikipedia:Reliable sources">reliable</a> and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Independent_sources" title="Wikipedia:Independent sources">independent sources</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">January 2022</span>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236090951">.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">See also: <a href="/wiki/Self-replicating_machines_in_fiction" class="mw-redirect" title="Self-replicating machines in fiction">Self-replicating machines in fiction</a></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Von_Neumann_probes_2">Von Neumann probes</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Von Neumann probes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)" title="2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)">2001: A Space Odyssey</a></i>: The <a href="/wiki/Monolith_(Space_Odyssey)" title="Monolith (Space Odyssey)">monoliths</a> in <a href="/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke" title="Arthur C. Clarke">Arthur C. Clarke</a>'s book and <a href="/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick" title="Stanley Kubrick">Stanley Kubrick</a>'s film <i><a href="/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(novel)" title="2001: A Space Odyssey (novel)">2001: A Space Odyssey</a></i> were intended to be self-replicating probes, though the artifacts in "<a href="/wiki/The_Sentinel_(short_story)" title="The Sentinel (short story)">The Sentinel</a>", Clarke's original short story upon which <i>2001</i> was based, were not. The film was to begin with a series of scientists explaining how probes like these would be the most efficient method of exploring outer space. Kubrick cut the opening segment from his film at the last minute, however, and these monoliths became almost mystical entities in both the film and Clarke's novel.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Cold_as_Ice_(novel)" title="Cold as Ice (novel)">Cold As Ice</a></i>: In the novel by <a href="/wiki/Charles_Sheffield" title="Charles Sheffield">Charles Sheffield</a>, there is a segment where the author (a physicist) describes Von Neumann machines harvesting <a href="/wiki/Sulfur" title="Sulfur">sulfur</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nitrogen" title="Nitrogen">nitrogen</a>, <a href="/wiki/Phosphorus" title="Phosphorus">phosphorus</a>, <a href="/wiki/Helium-4" title="Helium-4">helium-4</a>, and various metals from the atmosphere of <a href="/wiki/Jupiter" title="Jupiter">Jupiter</a>.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Destiny%27s_Road" title="Destiny's Road">Destiny's Road</a></i>: <a href="/wiki/Larry_Niven" title="Larry Niven">Larry Niven</a> frequently refers to Von Neumann probes in many of his works. In his 1998 book <i>Destiny's Road</i>, Von Neumann machines are scattered throughout the human colony world Destiny and its moon Quicksilver in order to build and maintain technology and to make up for the lack of the resident humans' technical knowledge; the Von Neumann machines primarily construct a stretchable fabric cloth capable of acting as a <a href="/wiki/Solar_thermal_collector" title="Solar thermal collector">solar collector</a> which serves as the humans' primary energy source. The Von Neumann machines also engage in ecological maintenance and other exploratory work.</li> <li><i><a href="/w/index.php?title=The_Devil%27s_Blind_Spot&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="The Devil's Blind Spot (page does not exist)">The Devil's Blind Spot</a></i>: See also <a href="/wiki/Alexander_Kluge" title="Alexander Kluge">Alexander Kluge</a>, <i>The Devil's Blind Spot</i> (New Directions; 2004.)</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Grey_Goo_(video_game)" class="mw-redirect" title="Grey Goo (video game)">Grey Goo</a></i>: In the video game <i>Grey Goo</i>, the "Goo" faction is composed entirely of Von Neumann probes sent through various microscopic wormholes to map the Milky Way Galaxy. The faction's units are configurations of nanites used during their original mission of exploration, which have adapted to a combat role. The Goo starts as an antagonist to the Human and Beta factions, but their true objective is revealed during their portion of the single-player campaign. Related to, and inspired by, the <a href="/wiki/Gray_Goo" class="mw-redirect" title="Gray Goo">Grey Goo</a> doomsday scenario.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Spin_(novel)" title="Spin (novel)">Spin</a></i>: In the novel by <a href="/wiki/Robert_Charles_Wilson" title="Robert Charles Wilson">Robert Charles Wilson</a>, Earth is veiled by a temporal field. Humanity tries to understand and escape this field by using Von Neumann probes. It is later revealed that the field itself was generated by Von Neumann probes from another civilization, and that a competition for resources had taken place between earth's and the aliens' probes.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/The_Third_Millennium:_A_History_of_the_World_AD_2000%E2%80%933000" title="The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000–3000">The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000–3000</a></i>: In the book by <a href="/wiki/Brian_Stableford" title="Brian Stableford">Brian Stableford</a> and <a href="/wiki/David_Langford" title="David Langford">David Langford</a> (published by <a href="/wiki/Alfred_A._Knopf" title="Alfred A. Knopf">Alfred A. Knopf</a>, Inc., 1985) humanity sends cycle-limited Von Neumann probes out to the nearest stars to do open-ended exploration and to announce humanity's existence to whoever might encounter them.</li> <li><i><a href="/w/index.php?title=Von_Neumann%27s_War&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Von Neumann's War (page does not exist)">Von Neumann's War</a></i>: In <i>Von Neumann's War</i> by <a href="/wiki/John_Ringo" title="John Ringo">John Ringo</a> and <a href="/wiki/Travis_S._Taylor" title="Travis S. Taylor">Travis S. Taylor</a> (published by <a href="/wiki/Baen_Books" title="Baen Books">Baen Books</a> in 2007) Von Neumann probes arrive in the solar system, moving in from the outer planets, and converting all metals into gigantic structures. Eventually, they arrive on Earth, wiping out much of the population before being beaten back when humanity <a href="/wiki/Reverse_engineering" title="Reverse engineering">reverse engineers</a> some of the probes.</li> <li><i>We Are Legion (We Are Bob)</i> by <a href="/wiki/Dennis_E._Taylor" title="Dennis E. Taylor">Dennis E. Taylor</a>: Bob Johansson, the former owner of a software company, dies in a car accident, only to wake up a hundred years later as a computer emulation of Bob. Given a Von Neumann probe by America's religious government, he is sent out to explore, exploit, expand, and experiment for the good of the human race.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/ARMA_3" class="mw-redirect" title="ARMA 3">ARMA 3</a></i>: In the "First Contact" single-player campaign introduced in the <i>Contact</i> expansion, a series of extraterrestrial network structures are found in various locations on Earth, one being the fictional country of Livonia, the campaign's setting. In the credits of the campaign, a radio broadcast reveals that a popular theory surrounding the networks is that they are a type of Von Neumann probe that arrived on Earth during the time of a <a href="/wiki/Supercontinent" title="Supercontinent">supercontinent</a>.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Questionable_Content" title="Questionable Content">Questionable Content</a></i>: In <a href="/wiki/Jeph_Jacques" title="Jeph Jacques">Jeph Jacques</a>' webcomic, Faye Whitaker refers to the "Floating Black Slab Emitting A Low Hum" as a possible Von Neumann probe in Episode 4645: Accessorized.</li> <li>In the third act of the incremental game <i><a href="/wiki/Universal_Paperclips" title="Universal Paperclips">Universal Paperclips</a></i>, after all of Earth's matter has been converted into paperclips, players are tasked with sending Von Neumann probes into the universe to find and consume all matter in service of making paperclips, eventually entering a war with another class of probes called "drifters" that are created as a result of random mutations.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Berserkers_2">Berserkers</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Berserkers"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>In the science fiction short story collection <i><a href="/wiki/Berserker_(novel_series)" title="Berserker (novel series)">Berserker</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/Fred_Saberhagen" title="Fred Saberhagen">Fred Saberhagen</a>, a series of short stories include accounts of battles fought against extremely destructive Berserker machines. This and subsequent books set in the same <a href="/wiki/Fictional_universe" title="Fictional universe">fictional universe</a> are the origin of the term "Berserker probe".</li> <li>In the <a href="/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(TV_miniseries)" class="mw-redirect" title="Battlestar Galactica (TV miniseries)">2003 miniseries</a> <a href="/wiki/Reboot_(fiction)" title="Reboot (fiction)">reboot</a> of <i><a href="/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(1978_TV_series)" title="Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)">Battlestar Galactica</a></i> (and the subsequent <a href="/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)" title="Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)">2004 series</a>) the Cylons are similar to Berserkers in their wish to destroy human life. They were created by humans in a group of fictional planets called the Twelve Colonies. The Cylons created special models that look like humans in order to destroy the twelve colonies and later, the fleeing fleet of surviving humans.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Borg_(Star_Trek)" class="mw-redirect" title="Borg (Star Trek)">Borg</a> of <i><a href="/wiki/Star_Trek" title="Star Trek">Star Trek</a></i> – a self-replicating bio-mechanical race that is dedicated to the task of achieving perfection through the assimilation of useful technology and lifeforms. Their ships are massive mechanical cubes (a close step from the Berserker's massive mechanical Spheres).</li> <li>Science fiction author <a href="/wiki/Larry_Niven" title="Larry Niven">Larry Niven</a> later borrowed this notion in his short story "<a href="/wiki/Limits_(novel)" class="mw-redirect" title="Limits (novel)">A Teardrop Falls</a>".</li> <li>In the computer game <i><a href="/wiki/Star_Control_II" title="Star Control II">Star Control II</a></i>, the Slylandro Probe is an out-of-control self-replicating probe that attacks <a href="/wiki/Starship" title="Starship">starships</a> of other races. They were not originally intended to be a berserker probe; they sought out intelligent life for peaceful contact, but due to a programming error, they would immediately switch to "resource extraction" mode and attempt to dismantle the target ship for raw materials. While the plot claims that the probes reproduce "at a geometric rate", the game itself caps the frequency of encountering these probes. It is possible to deal with the menace in a side-quest, but this is not necessary to complete the game, as the probes only appear one at a time, and the player's ship will eventually be fast and powerful enough to outrun them or destroy them for resources – although the probes will eventually dominate the entire game universe.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Iain_Banks" title="Iain Banks">Iain Banks</a>' novel <i><a href="/wiki/Excession" title="Excession">Excession</a></i>, hegemonising swarms are described as a form of <a href="/wiki/Outside_Context_Problem" class="mw-redirect" title="Outside Context Problem">Outside Context Problem</a>. An example of an "Aggressive Hegemonising Swarm Object" is given as an uncontrolled self-replicating probe with the goal of turning all matter into copies of itself. After causing great damage, they are somehow transformed using unspecified techniques by the <a href="/wiki/Zetetic_Elench" class="mw-redirect" title="Zetetic Elench">Zetetic Elench</a> and become "Evangelical Hegemonising Swarm Objects". Such swarms (referred to as "smatter") reappear in the later novels <i><a href="/wiki/Surface_Detail" title="Surface Detail">Surface Detail</a></i> (which features scenes of space combat against the swarms) and <i><a href="/wiki/The_Hydrogen_Sonata" title="The Hydrogen Sonata">The Hydrogen Sonata</a></i>.</li> <li>The Inhibitors from <a href="/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds" title="Alastair Reynolds">Alastair Reynolds</a>' <i><a href="/wiki/Revelation_Space" title="Revelation Space">Revelation Space</a></i> series are self-replicating machines whose purpose is to inhibit the development of intelligent star-faring cultures. They are dormant for extreme periods of time until they detect the presence of a space-faring culture and proceed to exterminate it even to the point of sterilizing entire planets. They are very difficult to destroy as they seem to have faced every type of weapon ever devised and only need a short time to 'remember' the necessary counter-measures.</li> <li>Also from <a href="/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds" title="Alastair Reynolds">Alastair Reynolds</a>' books, the "Greenfly" terraforming machines are another form of berserker machines. For unknown reasons, but probably an error in their programming, they destroy planets and turn them into trillions of domes filled with vegetation – after all, their purpose is to produce a habitable environment for humans, however in doing so they inadvertently decimate the human race. By 10,000, they have wiped out most of the Galaxy.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Reapers_(Mass_Effect)" title="Reapers (Mass Effect)">Reapers</a> in the video game series <i><a href="/wiki/Mass_Effect" title="Mass Effect">Mass Effect</a></i> are also self-replicating probes bent on destroying any advanced civilization encountered in the galaxy. They lie dormant in the vast spaces between the galaxies and follow a cycle of extermination. It is seen in <i><a href="/wiki/Mass_Effect_2" title="Mass Effect 2">Mass Effect 2</a></i> that they assimilate any advanced species.</li> <li>Mantrid Drones from the science fiction television series <i><a href="/wiki/Lexx" title="Lexx">Lexx</a></i> were an extremely aggressive type of self-replicating Berserker machine, eventually converting the majority of the matter in the universe into copies of themselves in the course of their quest to thoroughly exterminate humanity.</li> <li>The <i><a href="/wiki/Babylon_5" title="Babylon 5">Babylon 5</a></i> episode "<a href="/wiki/Infection_(Babylon_5)" title="Infection (Babylon 5)">Infection</a>" showed a smaller scale berserker in the form of the Icarran War Machine. After being created with the goal of defeating an unspecified enemy faction, the War Machines proceeded to exterminate all life on the planet Icarra VII because they had been programmed with standards for what constituted a 'Pure Icaran' based on religious teachings, which no actual Icaran could satisfy. Because the Icaran were pre-starflight, the War Machines became dormant after completing their task rather than spreading. One unit was reactivated on-board Babylon 5 after being smuggled past quarantine by an unscrupulous archaeologist, but after being confronted with how they had rendered Icara VII a dead world, the simulated personality of the War Machine committed suicide.</li> <li>The <i><a href="/wiki/Babylon_5" title="Babylon 5">Babylon 5</a></i> episode "<a href="/wiki/A_Day_in_the_Strife" class="mw-redirect" title="A Day in the Strife">A Day in the Strife</a>" features a probe that threatens the station with destruction unless a series of questions designed to test a civilization's level of advancement are answered correctly. The commander of the station correctly surmises that the probe is actually a berserker and that if the questions are answered the probe would identify them as a threat to its originating civilization and detonate.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Greg_Bear" title="Greg Bear">Greg Bear</a>'s novel <i><a href="/wiki/The_Forge_of_God" title="The Forge of God">The Forge of God</a></i> deals directly with the concept of "Berserker" von Neumann probes and their consequences. The idea is further explored in the novel's sequel, <i><a href="/wiki/Anvil_of_Stars" title="Anvil of Stars">Anvil of Stars</a></i>, which explores the reaction other civilizations have to the creation and release of Berserkers.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Gregory_Benford" title="Gregory Benford">Gregory Benford</a>'s <i><a href="/wiki/Galactic_Center_Saga" title="Galactic Center Saga">Galactic Center Saga</a></i> series, an antagonist berserker machine race is encountered by Earth, first as a probe in <i><a href="/wiki/In_the_Ocean_of_Night" title="In the Ocean of Night">In the Ocean of Night</a></i>, and then in an attack in <i><a href="/wiki/Across_the_Sea_of_Suns" title="Across the Sea of Suns">Across the Sea of Suns</a></i>. The berserker machines do not seek to completely eradicate a race if merely throwing it into a primitive low technological state will do as they did to the EMs encountered in <i>Across the Sea of Suns</i>. The alien machine Watchers would not be considered von Neumann machines themselves, but the collective machine race could.</li> <li>On <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_SG-1" title="Stargate SG-1">Stargate SG-1</a></i> the <a href="/wiki/Replicator_(Stargate)" class="mw-redirect" title="Replicator (Stargate)">Replicators</a> were a vicious race of insect-like robots that were originally created by an android named Reese to serve as toys. They grew beyond her control and began evolving, eventually spreading throughout at least two galaxies. In addition to ordinary autonomous evolution they were able to analyze and incorporate new technologies they encountered into themselves, ultimately making them one of the most advanced "races" known.</li> <li>On <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_Atlantis" title="Stargate Atlantis">Stargate Atlantis</a></i>, a second race of replicators created by the Ancients were encountered in the Pegasus Galaxy. They were created as a means to defeat the Wraith. The Ancients attempted to destroy them after they began showing signs of sentience and requested that their drive to kill the wraith be removed. This failed, and an unspecified length of time after the Ancients retreated to the Milky Way Galaxy, the replicators nearly succeeded in destroying the Wraith. The Wraith were able to hack into the replicators and deactivate the extermination drive, at which point they retreated to their home world and were not heard from again until encountered by the Atlantis Expedition. After the Atlantis Expedition reactivated this dormant directive, the replicators embarked on a plan to kill the Wraith by removing their food source, i.e. all humans in the Pegasus Galaxy.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_Universe" title="Stargate Universe">Stargate Universe</a></i> Season 2, a galaxy billions of light years distant from the Milky Way is infested with drone ships that are programmed to annihilate intelligent life and advanced technology. The drone ships attack other space ships (including Destiny) as well as humans on planetary surfaces, but don't bother destroying primitive technology such as buildings unless they are harboring intelligent life or advanced technology.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Justice_League_Unlimited" title="Justice League Unlimited">Justice League Unlimited</a></i> episode "<a href="/wiki/List_of_Justice_League_episodes#ep10" title="List of Justice League episodes">Dark Heart</a>", an alien weapon based on this same idea lands on Earth.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Homeworld:_Cataclysm" title="Homeworld: Cataclysm">Homeworld: Cataclysm</a></i> video game, a bio-mechanical virus called <i>Beast</i> has the ability to alter organic and mechanic material to suit its needs, and the ships infected become self-replicating hubs for the virus.</li> <li>In the SF <a href="/wiki/Massively_multiplayer_online_game" title="Massively multiplayer online game">MMO</a> <i><a href="/wiki/EVE_Online" class="mw-redirect" title="EVE Online">EVE Online</a></i>, experiments to create more autonomous drones than the ones used by player's ships accidentally created 'rogue drones' which form hives in certain parts of space and are used extensively in missions as difficult opponents.</li> <li>In the computer game <i><a href="/wiki/Sword_of_the_Stars" title="Sword of the Stars">Sword of the Stars</a></i>, the player may randomly encounter "Von Neumann". A Von Neumann mothership appears along with smaller Von Neumann probes, which attack and consume the player's ships. The probes then return to the mothership, returning the consumed material. If probes are destroyed, the mothership will create new ones. If all the player's ships are destroyed, the Von Neumann probes will reduce the planets resource levels before leaving. The probes appear as blue octahedrons, with small spheres attached to the apical points. The mothership is a larger version of the probes. In the 2008 expansion <i>A Murder of Crows</i>, Kerberos Productions also introduces the VN Berserker, a combat oriented ship, which attacks player planets and ships in retaliation to violence against VN Motherships. If the player destroys the Berserker things will escalate and a System Destroyer will attack.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/X_(computer_game_series)" class="mw-redirect" title="X (computer game series)">X Computer Game Series</a></i>, the <a href="/wiki/X_(game_series)#Featured_races" class="mw-redirect" title="X (game series)">Xenon</a> are a malevolent race of <a href="/wiki/AI" class="mw-redirect" title="AI">artificially intelligent</a> machines descended from terraforming ships sent out by humans to prepare worlds for eventual colonization; the result caused by a bugged software update. They are continual antagonists in the <a href="/wiki/X_(computer_game_series)#The_X_Universe" class="mw-redirect" title="X (computer game series)">X-Universe</a>.</li> <li>In the comic <i><a href="/wiki/Transmetropolitan" title="Transmetropolitan">Transmetropolitan</a></i> a character mentions "Von Neumann rectal infestations" which are apparently caused by "Shit-ticks that build more shit-ticks that build more shit-ticks".</li> <li>In the anime <i><a href="/wiki/Vandread" title="Vandread">Vandread</a></i>, harvester ships attack vessels from both male- and female-dominated factions and harvest hull, reactors, and computer components to make more of themselves. To this end, Harvester ships are built around mobile factories. Earth-born humans also view the inhabitants of the various colonies to be little more than spare parts.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/wiki/Earth_2160" title="Earth 2160">Earth 2160</a></i>, the Morphidian Aliens rely on Mantain strain aliens for colonization. Most Mantain-derived aliens can absorb water, then reproduce like a colony of cells. In this manner, even one Mantain Lady (or Princess, or Queen) can create enough clones to cover the map. Once they have significant numbers, they "choose an evolutionary path" and swarm the enemy, taking over their resources.</li> <li>In the European comic series <i><a href="/wiki/Storm_(Don_Lawrence)" title="Storm (Don Lawrence)">Storm</a></i>, numbers 20 & 21, a kind of berserk von Neumann probe is set on a collision course with the Pandarve system.</li> <li>In PC role-playing game <i><a href="/wiki/Space_Rangers_(video_game)" title="Space Rangers (video game)">Space Rangers</a></i> and its sequel <i><a href="/wiki/Space_Rangers_2:_Dominators" title="Space Rangers 2: Dominators">Space Rangers 2: Dominators</a></i>, a league of 5 nations battles three different types of Berserker robots. One that focuses on invading planets, another that battles normal space and third that lives in hyperspace.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Star_Wolves" title="Star Wolves">Star Wolves</a></i> video game series, Berserkers are a self-replicating machine menace that threatens the known universe for purposes of destruction and/or assimilation of humanity.</li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Star_Wars_expanded_universe" class="mw-redirect" title="Star Wars expanded universe"><i>Star Wars</i> expanded universe</a> features the World Devastators, large ships designed and built by the <a href="/wiki/Galactic_Empire_(Star_Wars)" title="Galactic Empire (Star Wars)">Galactic Empire</a> that tear apart planets to use its materials to build other ships or even upgrade or replicate themselves.</li> <li>The Tet in the 2013 film <i><a href="/wiki/Oblivion_(2013_film)" title="Oblivion (2013 film)">Oblivion</a></i> is revealed to be a Berserker of sorts: a sentient machine that travels from planet to planet, exterminating the indigenous population using armies of robotic drones and cloned members of the target species. The Tet then proceeds to harvest the planet's water in order to extract hydrogen for <a href="/wiki/Nuclear_fusion" title="Nuclear fusion">nuclear fusion</a>.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/wiki/Eclipse_Phase" title="Eclipse Phase">Eclipse Phase</a></i>, an ETI probe is believed to have infected the TITAN computer systems with the Exsurgent virus to cause them to go berserk and wage war on humanity. This would make ETI probes a form of berserker, albeit one that uses pre-existing computer systems as its key weapons.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/w/index.php?title=Herr_aller_Dinge&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Herr aller Dinge (page does not exist)">Herr aller Dinge</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/Andreas_Eschbach" title="Andreas Eschbach">Andreas Eschbach</a>, an ancient nano machine complex is discovered buried in a glacier off the coast of Russia. When it comes in contact with materials it needs to fulfill its mission, it creates a launch facility and launches a space craft. It is later revealed that the nano machines were created by a pre-historic human race with the intention of destroying other interstellar civilizations (for an unknown reason). It is proposed that the reason there is no evidence of the race is because of the nano-machines themselves and their ability to manipulate matter at an atomic level. It is even suggested that viruses could be ancient nano machines that have evolved over time.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Replicating_seeder_ships_2">Replicating seeder ships</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Replicating seeder ships"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1251242444"><table class="box-Unreferenced_section plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-Unreferenced" role="presentation"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><div class="mbox-image-div"><span typeof="mw:File"><a href="/wiki/File:Question_book-new.svg" class="mw-file-description"><img alt="" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/50px-Question_book-new.svg.png" decoding="async" width="50" height="39" class="mw-file-element" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/75px-Question_book-new.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/Question_book-new.svg/100px-Question_book-new.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="512" data-file-height="399" /></a></span></div></td><td class="mbox-text"><div class="mbox-text-span">This section <b>does not <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources">cite</a> any <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">sources</a></b>.<span class="hide-when-compact"> Please help <a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Self-replicating_spacecraft" title="Special:EditPage/Self-replicating spacecraft">improve this section</a> by <a href="/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners" title="Help:Referencing for beginners">adding citations to reliable sources</a>. Unsourced material may be challenged and <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#Burden_of_evidence" title="Wikipedia:Verifiability">removed</a>.</span> <span class="date-container"><i>(<span class="date">February 2021</span>)</i></span><span class="hide-when-compact"><i> (<small><a href="/wiki/Help:Maintenance_template_removal" title="Help:Maintenance template removal">Learn how and when to remove this message</a></small>)</i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <ul><li><i><a href="/wiki/Code_of_the_Lifemaker" title="Code of the Lifemaker">Code of the Lifemaker</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/James_P._Hogan_(writer)" title="James P. Hogan (writer)">James P. Hogan</a> describes the evolution of a society of humanoid-like robots who inhabit Saturn's moon Titan. The sentient machines are descended from an uncrewed factory ship that was to be self replicating, but suffered radiation damage and went off course, eventually landing on Titan around 1,000,000 BC.</li> <li><i><a href="/wiki/Manifold:_Space" class="mw-redirect" title="Manifold: Space">Manifold: Space</a></i>, <a href="/wiki/Stephen_Baxter_(author)" title="Stephen Baxter (author)">Stephen Baxter</a>'s novel, starts with the discovery of alien self-replicating machines active within the Solar system.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Metroid_Prime:_Trilogy" title="Metroid Prime: Trilogy">Metroid Prime</a></i> subseries of games, the massive Leviathans are probes routinely sent out from the planet Phaaze to infect other planets with Phazon radiation and eventually turn these planets into clones of Phaaze, where the self-replication process can continue.</li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/David_Brin" title="David Brin">David Brin</a>'s short story collection, <i><a href="/wiki/The_River_of_Time" title="The River of Time">The River of Time</a></i> (1986), the short story "Lungfish" prominently features von Neumann probes.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Not only does he explore the concept of the probes themselves, but indirectly explores the ideas of competition between different designs of probes, evolution of von Neumann probes in the face of such competition, and the development of a type of ecology between von Neumann probes. One of the vessels mentioned is clearly a Seeder type.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/wiki/The_Songs_of_Distant_Earth" title="The Songs of Distant Earth">The Songs of Distant Earth</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke" title="Arthur C. Clarke">Arthur C. Clarke</a>, humanity on a future Earth facing imminent destruction creates automated seedships that act as <a href="/wiki/Fire_and_forget" class="mw-redirect" title="Fire and forget">fire and forget</a> lifeboats aimed at distant, habitable worlds. Upon landing, the ship begins to create new humans from stored genetic information, and an onboard computer system raises and trains the first few generations of new inhabitants. The massive ships are then broken down and used as building materials by their "children".</li> <li>On the <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_Atlantis" title="Stargate Atlantis">Stargate Atlantis</a></i> episode "<a href="/wiki/Stargate_Atlantis_(season_5)#ep95" class="mw-redirect" title="Stargate Atlantis (season 5)">Remnants</a>", the Atlantis team finds an ancient probe that they later learn was launched by a now-extinct, technologically advanced race in order to seed new worlds and re-propagate their silicon-based species. The probe communicated with inhabitants of Atlantis by means of hallucinations.</li> <li>On the <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_SG-1" title="Stargate SG-1">Stargate SG-1</a></i> episode "<a href="/wiki/Stargate_SG-1_(season_4)#ep75" class="mw-redirect" title="Stargate SG-1 (season 4)">Scorched Earth</a>", a species of newly relocated humanoids face extinction via an automated terraforming colony seeder ship controlled by an <a href="/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence" class="mw-redirect" title="Artificial Intelligence">Artificial Intelligence</a>.</li> <li>On <i><a href="/wiki/Stargate_Universe" title="Stargate Universe">Stargate Universe</a></i>, the human adventurers live on a ship called <i>Destiny</i>. Its mission was to connect a network of <a href="/wiki/Stargate_(device)" title="Stargate (device)">Stargates</a>, placed by preceding seeder ships on planets capable of supporting life to allow instantaneous travel between them.</li> <li>The trilogy of albums which conclude the comic book series <i><a href="/wiki/Storm_(Don_Lawrence)" title="Storm (Don Lawrence)">Storm</a></i> by <a href="/wiki/Don_Lawrence" title="Don Lawrence">Don Lawrence</a> (starting with <i>Chronicles of Pandarve 11: The Von Neumann machine</i>) is based on self-replicating conscious machines containing the sum of all human knowledge employed to rebuild human society throughout the universe in case of disaster on Earth. The probe malfunctions and although new probes are built, they do not separate from the motherprobe, which eventually results in a cluster of malfunctioning probes so big that it can absorb entire moons.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/wiki/Xeno_(series)" title="Xeno (series)">Xeno</a></i> series, a rogue seeder ship (technically a berserker) known as "Deus" created humanity.</li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1184024115">.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}</style><div class="div-col"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Asteroid_mining" title="Asteroid mining">Asteroid mining</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Astrochicken" title="Astrochicken">Astrochicken</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bracewell_probe" title="Bracewell probe">Bracewell probe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Embryo_space_colonization" title="Embryo space colonization">Embryo space colonization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generation_ship" title="Generation ship">Generation ship</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interstellar_ark" title="Interstellar ark">Interstellar ark</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interstellar_travel" title="Interstellar travel">Interstellar travel</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Self-replicating_machine" title="Self-replicating machine">Self-replicating machine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sleeper_ship" title="Sleeper ship">Sleeper ship</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_colonization" title="Space colonization">Space colonization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Transcension_hypothesis" class="mw-redirect" title="Transcension hypothesis">Transcension hypothesis</a></li></ul> </div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Self-replicating_spacecraft&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;"> <ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFThink2012" 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Elsevier BV: 546–556. <a href="/wiki/ArXiv_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ArXiv (identifier)">arXiv</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.12303">2005.12303</a></span>. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AcAau.187..546B">2021AcAau.187..546B</a>. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.actaastro.2021.03.004">10.1016/j.actaastro.2021.03.004</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0094-5765">0094-5765</a>. <a href="/wiki/S2CID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="S2CID (identifier)">S2CID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:218889518">218889518</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Acta+Astronautica&rft.atitle=Near-Term+Self-Replicating+Probes%E2%80%94A+Concept+Design&rft.volume=187&rft.pages=546-556&rft.date=2021&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.semanticscholar.org%2FCorpusID%3A218889518%23id-name%3DS2CID&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F2021AcAau.187..546B&rft_id=info%3Aarxiv%2F2005.12303&rft.issn=0094-5765&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1016%2Fj.actaastro.2021.03.004&rft.aulast=Borgue&rft.aufirst=Olivia&rft.au=Hein%2C+Andreas+M.&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFKaku" class="citation web cs1">Kaku, Michio. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://mkaku.org/home/articles/the-physics-of-extraterrestrial-civilizations/">"The Physics of Extraterrestrial Civilizations"</a>. <i>m< (mkaku.org)</i><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">June 21,</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=m%3C+%28mkaku.org%29&rft.atitle=The+Physics+of+Extraterrestrial+Civilizations&rft.aulast=Kaku&rft.aufirst=Michio&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fmkaku.org%2Fhome%2Farticles%2Fthe-physics-of-extraterrestrial-civilizations%2F&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation audio-visual cs1">Arthur C. Clarke. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smCCfb4_u6U"><i>Arthur C. Clarke on his short story that inspired 2001: A Space Odyssey</i></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=unknown&rft.btitle=Arthur+C.+Clarke+on+his+short+story+that+inspired+2001%3A+A+Space+Odyssey&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsmCCfb4_u6U&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/intergalactic-spreading.pdf">"Eternity in six hours: intergalactic spreading of intelligent life and sharpening the Fermi paradox"</a>. Stuart Armstrong, Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University. March 12, 2013.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFTipler1980" class="citation journal cs1">Tipler, Frank J. (1980). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1980QJRAS..21..267T">"Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist"</a>. <i>Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society</i>. <b>21</b>: 268. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980QJRAS..21..267T">1980QJRAS..21..267T</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Quarterly+Journal+of+the+Royal+Astronomical+Society&rft.atitle=Extraterrestrial+intelligent+beings+do+not+exist&rft.volume=21&rft.pages=268&rft.date=1980&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F1980QJRAS..21..267T&rft.aulast=Tipler&rft.aufirst=Frank+J.&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fadsabs.harvard.edu%2Ffull%2F1980QJRAS..21..267T&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">The complete text of the story has been placed on the author's website at <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.davidbrin.com/lungfish1.html">davidbrin.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070111122248/http://www.davidbrin.com/lungfish1.html">Archived</a> 2007-01-11 at the <a href="/wiki/Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a></span> </li> </ol></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239549316">.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em"> <ul><li>Boyce, Chris. <i>Extraterrestrial Encounter: A Personal Perspective.</i> London: David & Charles, Newton Abbot (1979).</li> <li>von Tiesenhausen, G., and Darbro, W. A. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19800025701">"Self-Replicating Systems,"</a> NASA Technical Memorandum 78304. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1980).</li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFFreitas_Jr.1980" class="citation journal cs1">Freitas Jr., Robert A. (1980). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/ReproJBISJuly1980.htm">"A Self-Reproducing Interstellar Probe"</a>. <i>Journal of the British Interplanetary Society</i>. <b>33</b>: 251–264. <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980JBIS...33..251F">1980JBIS...33..251F</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2006-10-07</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+British+Interplanetary+Society&rft.atitle=A+Self-Reproducing+Interstellar+Probe&rft.volume=33&rft.pages=251-264&rft.date=1980&rft_id=info%3Abibcode%2F1980JBIS...33..251F&rft.aulast=Freitas+Jr.&rft.aufirst=Robert+A.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rfreitas.com%2FAstro%2FReproJBISJuly1980.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span> <ul><li>also <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.molecularassembler.com/KSRM/3.11.htm">Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines: 3.11 Freitas Interstellar Probe Replicator (1979-1980)</a></li></ul></li> <li><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFValdesFreitas_Jr.1980" class="citation journal cs1">Valdes, Francisco; Freitas Jr., Robert A. (1980). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/ComparisonReproNov1980.htm">"Comparison of Reproducing and Non-Reproducing Starprobe Strategies for Galactic Exploration"</a>. <i>Journal of the British Interplanetary Society</i>. <b>33</b>: 402–408.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Journal+of+the+British+Interplanetary+Society&rft.atitle=Comparison+of+Reproducing+and+Non-Reproducing+Starprobe+Strategies+for+Galactic+Exploration&rft.volume=33&rft.pages=402-408&rft.date=1980&rft.aulast=Valdes&rft.aufirst=Francisco&rft.au=Freitas+Jr.%2C+Robert+A.&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rfreitas.com%2FAstro%2FComparisonReproNov1980.htm&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ASelf-replicating+spacecraft" class="Z3988"></span></li></ul> </div> <div class="navbox-styles"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist 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technology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_weather" title="Space weather">Space weather</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Human_spaceflight" title="Human spaceflight">Human spaceflight</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align: center;">General</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Astronaut" title="Astronaut">Astronaut</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Commercial_astronaut" title="Commercial astronaut">commercial</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Life-support_system" title="Life-support system">Life-support system</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Animals_in_space" title="Animals in space">Animals in space</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Bioastronautics" title="Bioastronautics">Bioastronautics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_suit" title="Space suit">Space suit</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Extravehicular_activity" title="Extravehicular activity">Extravehicular activity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Overview_effect" title="Overview effect">Overview effect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Weightlessness" title="Weightlessness">Weightlessness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_toilet" title="Space toilet">Space toilet</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_tourism" title="Space tourism">Space tourism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_colonization" title="Space colonization">Space colonization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_diving" title="Space diving">Space diving</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align: center;">Programs</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Vostok_programme" title="Vostok programme">Vostok</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Project_Mercury" title="Project Mercury">Mercury</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Voskhod_programme" title="Voskhod programme">Voskhod</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Project_Gemini" title="Project Gemini">Gemini</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Soyuz_programme" title="Soyuz programme">Soyuz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apollo_program" title="Apollo program">Apollo</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Skylab" title="Skylab">Skylab</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Apollo%E2%80%93Soyuz" title="Apollo–Soyuz">Apollo–Soyuz</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program" title="Space Shuttle program">Space Shuttle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mir" title="Mir">Mir</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Shuttle%E2%80%93Mir_program" title="Shuttle–Mir program">Shuttle–Mir</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/International_Space_Station" title="International Space Station">International Space Station</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/China_Manned_Space_Program" title="China Manned Space Program">Shenzhou</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tiangong_program" title="Tiangong program">Tiangong</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/New_Shepard" title="New Shepard">New Shepard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Artemis_program" title="Artemis program">Artemis</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%;text-align: center;">Health issues</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body" title="Effect of spaceflight on the human body">Effect of spaceflight on the human body</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Space_adaptation_syndrome" title="Space adaptation syndrome">Space adaptation syndrome</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Health_threat_from_cosmic_rays" class="mw-redirect" title="Health threat from cosmic rays">Health threat from cosmic rays</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_psychology" title="Space psychology">Space psychology</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Psychological_and_sociological_effects_of_spaceflight" title="Psychological and sociological effects of spaceflight">Psychological and sociological effects</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_and_survival" title="Space and survival">Space and survival</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_medicine" title="Space medicine">Space medicine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_nursing" title="Space nursing">Space nursing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_sexology" title="Space sexology">Space sexology</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Spacecraft" title="Spacecraft">Spacecraft</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Launch_vehicle" title="Launch vehicle">Launch vehicle</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rocket" title="Rocket">Rocket</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_capsule" title="Space capsule">Space capsule</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Orbital_module" title="Orbital module">Orbital module</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reentry_capsule" title="Reentry capsule">Reentry capsule</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Service_module" title="Service module">Service module</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spaceplane" title="Spaceplane">Spaceplane</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Robotic_spacecraft" class="mw-redirect" title="Robotic spacecraft">Robotic spacecraft</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Satellite" title="Satellite">Satellite</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_probe" class="mw-redirect" title="Space probe">Space probe</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lander_(spacecraft)" title="Lander (spacecraft)">Lander</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rover_(space_exploration)" title="Rover (space exploration)">Rover</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Self-replicating spacecraft</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Space_telescope" title="Space telescope">Space telescope</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spacecraft_propulsion" title="Spacecraft propulsion">Spacecraft propulsion</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Rocket_engine" title="Rocket engine">Rocket engine</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spacecraft_electric_propulsion" title="Spacecraft electric propulsion">Electric propulsion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Solar_sail" title="Solar sail">Solar sail</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gravity_assist" title="Gravity assist">Gravity assist</a></li></ul></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%">Destinations</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Sub-orbital_spaceflight" title="Sub-orbital spaceflight">Sub-orbital</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Orbital_spaceflight" title="Orbital spaceflight">Orbital</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Geocentric_orbit" title="Geocentric orbit">Geocentric</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Geosynchronous_orbit" title="Geosynchronous orbit">Geosynchronous</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interplanetary_spaceflight" title="Interplanetary spaceflight">Interplanetary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Interstellar_travel" title="Interstellar travel">Interstellar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intergalactic_travel" title="Intergalactic travel">Intergalactic</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Space_launch" title="Space launch">Space launch</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Direct_ascent" title="Direct ascent">Direct ascent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Escape_velocity" title="Escape velocity">Escape velocity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Expendable_launch_system" title="Expendable launch system">Expendable</a> and <a href="/wiki/Reusable_launch_vehicle" title="Reusable launch vehicle">reusable launch systems</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Launch_pad" title="Launch pad">Launch pad</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Non-rocket_spacelaunch" title="Non-rocket spacelaunch">Non-rocket spacelaunch</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Spaceport" title="Spaceport">Spaceport</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="text-align: center;;width:1%"><a href="/wiki/Ground_segment" title="Ground segment">Ground segment</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Flight_controller" title="Flight controller">Flight controller</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ground_station" title="Ground station">Ground station</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Orbital_pass" title="Orbital pass">Pass</a></li> <li><a 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