Concepts
Von Neumann Probe
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A Von Neumann probe is a hypothetical self-replicating spacecraft, capable of using local raw materials to construct copies of itself, that could in principle explore and colonize an entire galaxy over a long enough time even at low speeds. The concept extends mathematician John von Neumann's theoretical work on self-reproducing machines to interstellar exploration, and is discussed both as a plausible technology for a very advanced civilization and as a candidate explanation within Fermi Paradox debates for why such probes have apparently not been observed.
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Concept Domain Formulated YearVon Neumann's theoretical work on self-reproducing automata dates to the late 1940s and early 1950s; it was compiled and published posthumously in 1966 as Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata. Cross-Tradition Connections
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