A few people in different threads here talk about self-replicating robots or probes. The way they write, it seems as though we already have the technology to make them - which comes as a surprise to me.
So: for those of you who have talked about self-replicating machinery - where exactly are we at with that technology? And why are so many people sure it's more attainable than, say, faster-than-light travel?
I think it just seems superficially attainable given things like 3-D printers and continuing improvements in AI, forget questions like how it fuels itself.
Yeah, we're talking about fully-automated, fully self-repairing facilities that encompass the entire vertical industrial production infrastructure - mining, refinement, raw material production, all the way to assembly of finished good and installation of those goods into the infrastructure.
We're not remotely close to having that on Earth, let alone as self-contained spacecraft.
So: for those of you who have talked about self-replicating machinery - where exactly are we at with that technology? And why are so many people sure it's more attainable than, say, faster-than-light travel?