Can the first alien, that we meet the self-replicating machine, that we created ourselves?

The self-replicating Von Neumann probe can look like this. The system pulls material into the craft. The manufacturing system melts the material and then separates elements using centrifugal systems. Then it can drive those materials into the 3D printers. The system can create auxiliary robots that act like spaceborne quadcopters. That means that the system can create a copy of itself. 

AI can seem very wise. But the thing that is behind AI is just mathematics and the mathematical model. That can calculate the matches in texts with orders that the user gave to it. There is a model, where robot sensors see problems, and then the robot asks the AI for assistance to those problems. 

In that model, the robot says data to the language model, and then says "I have a problem solve it". When a robot sees mountains, it can ask the AI which can be the neural network how it can go over that mountain. Then the AI creates an answer. Maybe it orders 3D printers to create quadcopters. That transports robots over the mountain area. 

The Von Neumann machine, or self-replicating machine can have the same intelligence level as bacteria. But those robot bacteria can communicate with their creators. And maybe in the future, Von Neumann machines can operate in entire solar systems. The thing is that the Von Neumann machine can have its instructions in the DNA code. Data can be stored in the DNA molecules. In the Von Neumann machines, the DNA can involve the kernel and RAM chip information.  

And things like building instructions for those artificial metal bacteria can stored in the DNA. The DNA-controlled robot that creates copies of itself can be an interesting tool.  The robot can have two or three lines, how it can handle its power source. Near the sun, the Von Neumann machine can operate using solar panels. But in longer distances, it can have nuclear reactors or even antimatter systems for power sources. 

The Von Neumann robot can have 3D printers laser and microwave systems, along with centrifuges that it can use to separate raw materials from the asteroids. Those high-tech, AI-based systems can use laser detectors. and spectrometers to determine which raw materials like metals it can get. 

Then smaller auxiliary robots can collect those raw materials. Those auxiliary robots can have 3D printer systems, and they can also used to fix the shell of the primary machine. These kinds of intelligent systems can repair themselves, and when it comes to other solar systems, they can create copies of themselves. 

The thing is that these kinds of systems are things. That forces us to determine "life" better. Things like robot factories that create copies of themselves can be like lifeforms, even their AI-controlled man-made systems. Sometimes, somebody says that self-replicating machines, or Von Neuman machines are like cells that are not intelligent or living. But those machines can be dangerous if they don't recognize humans. 

Dangerous situations can form when the AI-controlled probe arrives back to Earth from the long missions. It's possible that those probes were sent to journey generations ago, and humans simply forgot them. In that case, some crises on Earth will cover that probe's leave. And maybe the descendants of those scientists don't open the mission logs. The idea is that the humans would send a probe whose speed is 5-25% of the speed of light to the Proxima Centauri. 

Many things can go wrong. The probe might have a program error, and it can simply forget to brake. In the worst case, that system impacts Earth using 0,25% of the speed of light. Or the breaking engines have no propellants. Or the system couldn't copy the approaching protocol for the solar system. There are billions of things that can go wrong. And if the AI doesn't have instructions to fill the braking engine's propellant tank, that can cause catastrophe. 

Those probes that bring samples from Proxima Centauri are programmed to defend themselves against the asteroids. The Von Neumann machine uses laser cannons to analyze asteroids. The low-power laser impulse vaporizes the asteroid's material. Then the spectroscope can analyze those elements. The system can shoot asteroids in pieces, that fit in reactors their microwaves melt those materials and centrifuges separate them from each other. The probe can also destroy incoming asteroids using high-power laser systems. 

And then. The system doesn't recognize the spacecraft that comes to get the samples. In that case, the system can shoot the shuttle using laser guns. In the worst case, the robot probe would not separate spacecraft from asteroids, and that is a devastating surprise. 

The thing that people usually forget in those systems is this. When the Von Neumann machine starts to make copies of itself, it can make the neural network, that expands autonomously. That kind of system can make surprises when its calculation power expands far higher than the creators calculated. 

https://setiandfermiparadox.wordpress.com/2024/07/19/can-the-first-alien-that-we-meet-the-self-replicating-machine-that-we-created-ourselves/