The Georgian scientist suggested the existence of tiny probes capable of self-copying, with the help of which a highly developed civilization could explore and master the Galaxy.
Despite all efforts, humanity has not yet managed to notice any traces of the existence of extraterrestrial life - no samples, no signals, and even less space ships of an alien civilization. Perhaps the fact is that they were looking for them on the wrong scale: physicist from the Free University of Tbilisi Zaza Osmanov (Zaza Osmanov) suggests that interplanetary probes can be of the order of several nanometers. The scientist writes about this in an article presented in the arXiv.org online preprint library.
Another of the founders of computer science, John von Neumann, suggested the existence of hypothetical self-replicating machines that could allow you to explore distant space without leaving your home planet or system. According to the scientist, such devices are able to slowly reach a neighboring star system, use its resources to copy themselves and move on to other systems. So, multiplying in an exponential progression, they can spread rather quickly throughout the Galaxy - it's a pity that, again, we have never seen any signs of their work.
According to Zaza Osmanov, the problem is that the von Neumann probes are too small for us to notice. After performing calculations, he showed that truly effective devices should be nanometer in size: in this case, they will not require relatively rare resources of rocky planets - minerals, metals, etc. - but will be able to do with the amount of materials that are found in the interstellar dust. Hydrogen will provide fuel for such nanoprobes.
According to Osmanov's estimates, such a reduction in size ensures the reproduction of each probe on a scale of several years, and their number can grow incredibly quickly. So, a hundred spacecraft, having overcome only one parsec (about four light years), should turn into a "swarm" of about 1033. Of course, each tiny probe will remain invisible, but the swarm as a whole may well reflect and / or screen enough light to to be visible to our instruments.
Sergey Vasiliev