Self-Replicating Robots and Galactic Domination

To check out any of the lectures available from Great Courses Plus go to We’ll soon be capable of building self-replicating robots. This will not only change humanity’s future but reshape the galaxy as we know it. Get your own Space Time t­shirt at Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com Comment on Reddit: Help translate our videos! Previous Episode - Is there a 5th Fundamental Force Should we Build a Dyson Sphere? Self-assembling robots are referred to as von Neumann machines after the man responsible for originally proposing them, John von Neumann. Since then, the potential of these machines and their ability to proliferate throughout known space has made galactic colonization seem not only possible but perhaps inevitable. Written and hosted by Matt O’Dowd Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com) References: von Neumann, John The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata, Urbana, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press. ed. A. Burks, 1966 Robert A. Freitas Jr., Ralph C. Merkle, Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX, 2004; Robo3D R1 printing an upgrade for itself