I wonder if it is possible for something resembling life can exist in extreme conditions like intergalactic gas or the core of a neutron star. Life requires reproduction, which requires computation, copying bits somehow encoded in a stable form such as DNA or capacitors on a silicon chip or the orbits of galaxies or quantum states in a quark soup held together by gravity. Copying a bit reduces entropy by one bit, which requires at least a 1 bit increase somewhere else. This requires free energy, something that can generate a temperature difference across space. The universe has about 10^92 bits of free energy, 10^69 per star. The biosphere has 10^37 bits encoded as DNA. The human body has 10^23 bits of DNA. All computers globally store 10^24 bits. The brain encodes 10^9 bits of long term conscious memory in 10^15 synapses.
It is possible to imagine other universes where computation can exist without energy. Wolfram describes some very simple universal computational systems such as a base 3 Turing machine with 2 states, and 1 dimensional cellular automata like rule 110. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_110 -- Matt Mahoney, [email protected] On Tue, Apr 28, 2026, 5:54 AM John Rose via AGI <[email protected]> wrote: > On Monday, April 27, 2026, at 12:36 PM, Matt Mahoney wrote: > > There is no widely accepted evidence for extraterrestrial life. It's not > like we aren't looking, like with SETI. But YouTube conspiracy videos are > propaganda, not evidence. The more you hear something, the more true it > becomes. That's how our brains work. > > > Did you see in the congressional hearing where the military hit a UAP with > a Hellfire missile? That was neat. > > On Monday, April 27, 2026, at 12:36 PM, Matt Mahoney wrote: > > Algorithmic complexity depends on the precision of the physical constants > but not on physical size. Occam's razor therefore favors a larger universe > with less precision and lower probability per planet of life. This not only > explains why the universe is so big, but makes it highly probable that it > extends far beyond the 10^24 planets (10^12 galaxies x 10^11 stars per > galaxy x 10 planets per star) within our event horizon, and we are still > the only planet with life. > > > There could be information beings living in stars if negentropic systems > form on cyclical temperature variations. The information density coupling > with spacetime geometry, mass density, changes with temperature so with > extreme variations from magnetic bursts interjecting cyclicalities could > host life formation. There could be whole information cities on the sun and > us stinky carbon based would be the minority, they might see us as skunk > apes that live in the mold that grows on satellite rocks. Some human > cultures regard the sun as conscious or a god perhaps it is. > > *Artificial General Intelligence List <https://agi.topicbox.com/latest>* > / AGI / see discussions <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi> + > participants <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/members> + > delivery options <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription> > Permalink > <https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T7fbc44c56222e976-M5e1f7f5feb0107b493b264ec> > ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T7fbc44c56222e976-Md6d6c32f3655e3be46922a7a Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
