one of the principle problems with self-replicating systems is preventing unbounded, out of control growth. recall the problems mickey mouse faced with bucket-toting broomsticks. i cant imagine this issue not being addressed at some point in this class, but it sparked my initial angle for viewing this topic, which was searching for societal examples of self-replication gone awry. in this i have contemplated a peculiar notion, that of the american prison cell as an EXISTING self-replicating habitat. bear with me. the purpose of the prison system is to hold society's undesirables for as long as it takes. as long as it takes for individuals to be paroled, for the state to kill them, or for natural causes to do the deed for them. a single prison is not the same as a hotel with infinite rooms...when more prisoners arrive, spacial limits are reached, and there is no choice but to construct new prisons. in a way, each occupied prison cell necessitates one more empty one, in effect, it creates the need for more. not only this, but the existence of prisons does anything but deter new criminals, and, as michel foucault says in "discipline and punish", prisons operate in such a way that "cannot fail to produce delinquents".
but that is playing fast and loose with definitions, which can get anyone into a dangerous ball game.
on the plus side, prison cells would not be hard AT ALL for robots to build...
<begin comment: Mar>
Please try to use correct capitalization in your documentations. I understand it's common to chat and email friends in all lower-case, but in reports and formal communications (unless you are writing a poem, etc.), we should use appropriate capitals.
Tip: If you haven’t gotten to the assignment readings…that contains hypothetical examples of the unbounded replication that you mentioned.
You can delete this comment when you correct your text.
<end comment: Mar>