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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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The Universe Should Already Be Full of Alien Machines. So Why Isn't It?

For decades, scientists and science-fiction writers have imagined a remarkable possibility: what if an advanced civilization could build machines that reproduce themselves?

These hypothetical machines, known as von Neumann probes, are named after mathematician and physicist John von Neumann. The idea is simple but powerful. A probe travels to another star system, uses local resources to build copies of itself, and then sends those copies to even more star systems. Over time, the number of probes could grow exponentially, allowing them to spread across entire galaxies.

A new study by David Kipping has taken this concept to an even larger scale. Instead of asking whether self-replicating probes could spread across a single galaxy, researchers explored what would happen if such machines expanded throughout the Universe itself. His findings reveal a fascinating mystery that may have major implications for the existence of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.

The Power of Self-Replicating Machines

Imagine sending a single robotic spacecraft to a nearby star. Once it arrives, it mines asteroids and planets for raw materials and builds several copies of itself. Those copies then travel to other stars and repeat the process.

The result is a chain reaction.

One probe becomes ten. Ten become a hundred. A hundred become thousands. Given enough time, an enormous region of space could become populated by these machines.

Scientists have long argued that even if such probes traveled much slower than the speed of light, they could still explore or colonize an entire galaxy within a relatively short period compared with the age of the Milky Way.

This creates an important question. If advanced civilizations exist and some of them build self-replicating probes, why don't we see any evidence of them?

The Hart-Tipler Argument

This question is closely related to a famous idea sometimes called the Hart-Tipler argument.

The reasoning is straightforward. The Milky Way is more than 13 billion years old. If technological civilizations have appeared multiple times during that history, and if even one of them launched aggressive self-replicating probes, those probes should have had more than enough time to spread throughout the galaxy.

Yet there is no clear evidence that our Solar System has been visited or occupied by such machines.

Some researchers interpret this as evidence that advanced civilizations are either extremely rare or that they generally do not engage in large-scale self-replicating expansion.

Expanding the Question to the Entire Universe

The new study extends this idea beyond the Milky Way.

Instead of focusing on a single galaxy, the researchers asked how self-replicating technological systems might spread across cosmological distances.

These systems were described as “artificial infections.” The term does not imply anything biological. Rather, it refers to any technology capable of spreading and reproducing itself throughout space.

Examples could include self-replicating spacecraft, autonomous robotic colonies, or other advanced technologies that expand without requiring constant control from their creators.

David Kipping wanted to keep his model as simple as possible. Many previous studies relied on numerous assumptions about alien behavior, motivations, and technological development. This new approach avoided those complications.

A Model with Just Three Variables

He built a minimal model using only three key factors:

  1. How often a technological civilization capable of launching such an expansion appears.

  2. How fast the expansion spreads.

  3. When the expansion begins.

The model also accounted for the expansion of the Universe itself, which affects how objects move and spread across cosmic distances.

By simplifying the problem, the researchers could focus on the most fundamental question:

How common can aggressive self-replicating expansion be before it becomes impossible to explain why we do not see it?

The Results Were Surprising

The findings suggest that even a relatively small number of civilizations launching self-replicating systems could dramatically transform the Universe.

If these expanding systems travel at about 10 percent of the speed of light, only about one in a million galaxies would need to produce such an expansion for roughly half of the Universe to be affected by today.

The effect becomes even stronger at higher speeds.

If propagation occurs at nearly the speed of light, only about one in a billion galaxies would need to launch such an expansion for enormous regions of the cosmos to become occupied.

Perhaps the most striking result is that if just one out of every 100,000 galaxies ever produced a self-replicating expansion, more than 99.9 percent of cosmic space would already be filled with it.

These numbers suggest that aggressive expansion is extraordinarily powerful on cosmological timescales.

The Great Cosmic Silence

The Universe does not appear to be obviously filled with artificial structures, self-replicating probes, or galaxy-spanning technological empires.

This absence creates a puzzle.

If self-replicating expansion is easy and technologically advanced civilizations are common, then large portions of the Universe should already show signs of such activity.

Since we do not see clear evidence, something in that chain of reasoning may be wrong.

One possibility is that intelligent civilizations are incredibly rare.

Another possibility is that advanced civilizations choose not to engage in uncontrolled expansion. Ethical concerns, resource limitations, or unforeseen risks might discourage the creation of self-replicating machines.

It is also possible that such systems are much harder to build than current theoretical models assume.

What Does This Mean for Humanity?

The study raises interesting questions about humanity's future.

As our technology advances, concepts that once belonged purely to science fiction are gradually becoming topics of serious scientific discussion. Autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, and self-sustaining space systems are all areas of active research.

Although humanity is far from creating true von Neumann probes, the study highlights how powerful such technology could become if it were ever developed.

It also serves as a reminder that technological capability and technological choice are not necessarily the same thing. A civilization may possess the ability to spread across the stars but still decide not to do so.

A New Perspective on the Search for Alien Life

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence often focuses on radio signals, planetary atmospheres, or large engineering projects around distant stars.

This research offers a different perspective. Instead of searching for individual civilizations, it examines the large-scale consequences of certain types of technological behavior.

The results suggest that if aggressive self-replicating expansion were common, the Universe should look very different from what we observe today.

That conclusion does not prove that alien civilizations do not exist. However, it places strong limits on how many of them can be creating and deploying self-replicating technologies.

In the end, the study turns one of humanity's oldest questions into a powerful scientific puzzle. If the cosmos is capable of producing civilizations that can spread across galaxies and even across the Universe, then where are the signs of their presence?

For now, the silence of the cosmos remains one of the greatest mysteries in science.

Reference: David Kipping, "The Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture", Arxiv, 2026. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.04044


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