The Technium

Machine Fecundity


A while back George Dyson sent along this note about the fecundity of manufactured items:

I had to park my car at [Seattle’s] SeaTac on Saturday-Sunday and this sparked a small epiphany. It now costs more to park a car at one airport than to rent one at the other end. To my twisted mind, this indicates that machines (taking the automobile as a benchmark) are now self-reproducing so fast we have reached a transition point where machines are cheaper than the empty space they fill.

2007 08 31 Parking Lot

Not only nature, but the Technium too abhors a vacuum.




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