nothing can change that.”
“But machine replication has always been possible in theory,” Safi said. “John von Neumann showed that over a century ago. That’s even what people call replicators: von Neumann machines.”
“But what good is theory if no one’s ever done it?”
“Because someone has to be the first? Von Neumann developed the template, the outline, of how you could build a machine that would replicate itself. Building one for real wasn’t possible then, and it wasn’t possible for a long time afterward, but we can do it now.”
“That
I seriously doubt.”
“But the work that von Neumann did —”
Oliver suddenly stood upright. “Von Neumann was an overrated crank! Just because he wasted his time building adding machines, everyone seems to think we owe him the world! I’m not surprised this idea was one of his. I’d have thought people nowadays would know better!”
Max couldn’t help being slightly alarmed at the reaction Safi was getting. A simple design discussion had taken a turn for the bizarre. Victor chose that moment to intervene.
“Professor Rudd,” he said calmly, “tell us what makes you think this is impossible.”
Oliver sighed heavily. “Look,” he said, pointing at an intercom box attached to the wall beside him. “I could design you a machine today that would build as many of these units as you wanted, but could you use one of those terminals to build the original machine? Could a hundred of them do it? Of course they couldn’t. It’s stupid.”
Max had to think hard to see how this contributed to the argument. He couldn’t.
“But what’s that got to do with what we’re talking about here?” Safi said. “If you want to build a machine that can copy itself then you design it to do just that. You don’t design it to sit there pushing out comms terminals.”
“But it cannot happen!” Oliver said. “It’s never going to happen!”
“But that’s what we’ve come here to do,” Victor said. “To make it happen. As I said before, that’s our aim, to design a self replicating machine that can extract gold from seawater.”
“And as
I
said before, just how are you hoping to achieve that? If it’s so easy, why bring us here, if your own people have been on it for months now?”
With that at least, Max agreed.
“Alright, I’ll be honest,” Victor said. “It’s true we’ve hit problems. We’re a marine company, our expertise is strong, but in a narrow field of engineering. We’ve got as far as we can with this. Full closure from raw materials is going to be tough. All three of you have something to offer, you, Oliver, plus Safi and Max. That’s why I asked you to come.”
Oliver leaned back against the wall, looking to the roof. “You want to build a machine to take gold out of seawater. Just standing here I can think of half a dozen ways of doing that: electrolysis plants, molecular filters, vapour centrifuges. Magic perpetual motion machines that can build themselves out of thinair aren’t on that list. I can help you with the first ones, but no one can help you with the last one.”
“But we’re not talking about perpetual motion,” Victor said. “And we’re not trying to build things out of thin air. The methods you described will form part of what we design, just as they have done when people have tried to extract gold in the past. But without replication there’s no point even trying because it’ll cost more money than it makes.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
“What are you doing here more like?” Ross said under his breath.
“Oliver,” Safi said, quietly but persuasively, “I can prove this is possible because I’ve already done it. I’ve worked with replicating systems before. I can show you them operating if you want.”
“I doubt that very much.”
Safi paused. Max looked over to see how she would react.
“Okay, Oliver, would you class bacteria as capable of reproducing?” she said.
“Yes, of
“But machine replication has always been possible in theory,” Safi said. “John von Neumann showed that over a century ago. That’s even what people call replicators: von Neumann machines.”
“But what good is theory if no one’s ever done it?”
“Because someone has to be the first? Von Neumann developed the template, the outline, of how you could build a machine that would replicate itself. Building one for real wasn’t possible then, and it wasn’t possible for a long time afterward, but we can do it now.”
“That
I seriously doubt.”
“But the work that von Neumann did —”
Oliver suddenly stood upright. “Von Neumann was an overrated crank! Just because he wasted his time building adding machines, everyone seems to think we owe him the world! I’m not surprised this idea was one of his. I’d have thought people nowadays would know better!”
Max couldn’t help being slightly alarmed at the reaction Safi was getting. A simple design discussion had taken a turn for the bizarre. Victor chose that moment to intervene.
“Professor Rudd,” he said calmly, “tell us what makes you think this is impossible.”
Oliver sighed heavily. “Look,” he said, pointing at an intercom box attached to the wall beside him. “I could design you a machine today that would build as many of these units as you wanted, but could you use one of those terminals to build the original machine? Could a hundred of them do it? Of course they couldn’t. It’s stupid.”
Max had to think hard to see how this contributed to the argument. He couldn’t.
“But what’s that got to do with what we’re talking about here?” Safi said. “If you want to build a machine that can copy itself then you design it to do just that. You don’t design it to sit there pushing out comms terminals.”
“But it cannot happen!” Oliver said. “It’s never going to happen!”
“But that’s what we’ve come here to do,” Victor said. “To make it happen. As I said before, that’s our aim, to design a self replicating machine that can extract gold from seawater.”
“And as
I
said before, just how are you hoping to achieve that? If it’s so easy, why bring us here, if your own people have been on it for months now?”
With that at least, Max agreed.
“Alright, I’ll be honest,” Victor said. “It’s true we’ve hit problems. We’re a marine company, our expertise is strong, but in a narrow field of engineering. We’ve got as far as we can with this. Full closure from raw materials is going to be tough. All three of you have something to offer, you, Oliver, plus Safi and Max. That’s why I asked you to come.”
Oliver leaned back against the wall, looking to the roof. “You want to build a machine to take gold out of seawater. Just standing here I can think of half a dozen ways of doing that: electrolysis plants, molecular filters, vapour centrifuges. Magic perpetual motion machines that can build themselves out of thinair aren’t on that list. I can help you with the first ones, but no one can help you with the last one.”
“But we’re not talking about perpetual motion,” Victor said. “And we’re not trying to build things out of thin air. The methods you described will form part of what we design, just as they have done when people have tried to extract gold in the past. But without replication there’s no point even trying because it’ll cost more money than it makes.”
“Then what are we doing here?”
“What are you doing here more like?” Ross said under his breath.
“Oliver,” Safi said, quietly but persuasively, “I can prove this is possible because I’ve already done it. I’ve worked with replicating systems before. I can show you them operating if you want.”
“I doubt that very much.”
Safi paused. Max looked over to see how she would react.
“Okay, Oliver, would you class bacteria as capable of reproducing?” she said.
“Yes, of
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