If inter universal travel is possible, then we face an interesting possibility, the Boltzmann replicator, analogous to the Boltzmann brain. It is a configuration of atoms that come together by chance in one of the universes, and then proceeds to self replicate. Given that we are not currently overrun with them, either there are a small number of universes, such that no inter-universal replicators have ever formed. This would suggest that there are NO universes containing civilizations this advanced. And our evolution wasn’t as fast as it could be, so either we are somehow the first technological life in the multiverse, or inter-universe travel is so hard it might as well be impossible.
Another possibility is that these replicators exist in some exponentially tiny fraction of the multiverse, so the thermodynamic limits on self replication stop them going too far too fast. In which case they will suddenly spring out of nowhere when they finally fill up the multiverse.
Or maybe the multiverse has strict travel rules, making it not that much better than a single universe. Or maybe it grows faster than anything can replicate.
It is look like an interdimensional Fermi Paradox, and some ideas are similar to the typical explanation of the FP: Maybe powerful interdimiansional replicators are already here, but their ethics prevent them from affecting our affairs (this is analogue of the Zoo hypothesis in the FP).
or inter-universe travel is so hard it might as well be impossible.
It’s also not immediately clear what the travel times are, how travel works, or if it varies between universes—any of which could potentially slow a fleet of replicators*.
*Still not clear on how/why those would come to be—it’s not clear to me how the multiverse would get a ‘random configuration of atoms that replicates and can handle inter-universe travel (especially if how that works could vary between universes)’.
If inter universal travel is possible, then we face an interesting possibility, the Boltzmann replicator, analogous to the Boltzmann brain. It is a configuration of atoms that come together by chance in one of the universes, and then proceeds to self replicate. Given that we are not currently overrun with them, either there are a small number of universes, such that no inter-universal replicators have ever formed. This would suggest that there are NO universes containing civilizations this advanced. And our evolution wasn’t as fast as it could be, so either we are somehow the first technological life in the multiverse, or inter-universe travel is so hard it might as well be impossible.
Another possibility is that these replicators exist in some exponentially tiny fraction of the multiverse, so the thermodynamic limits on self replication stop them going too far too fast. In which case they will suddenly spring out of nowhere when they finally fill up the multiverse.
Or maybe the multiverse has strict travel rules, making it not that much better than a single universe. Or maybe it grows faster than anything can replicate.
It is look like an interdimensional Fermi Paradox, and some ideas are similar to the typical explanation of the FP: Maybe powerful interdimiansional replicators are already here, but their ethics prevent them from affecting our affairs (this is analogue of the Zoo hypothesis in the FP).
It’s also not immediately clear what the travel times are, how travel works, or if it varies between universes—any of which could potentially slow a fleet of replicators*.
*Still not clear on how/why those would come to be—it’s not clear to me how the multiverse would get a ‘random configuration of atoms that replicates and can handle inter-universe travel (especially if how that works could vary between universes)’.