10-29-2015, 03:46 AM
Yes, an alien civilisation could miniaturise until it reaches some sort of physical limit- quite how small that might be would be constrained by their technology (they may not develop magmatter, for instance, which in the real universe may not be feasible).
However once this lower limit of size is reached, the civilisation could still expand into some sort of Dyson swarm, one which includes both tiny, dense processors and large power-collection systems and databases. In fact, this is more-or-less the condition of most Panvirtuality swarms in OA - each star colonised by the Panvirts holds an microcosm of staggering complexity.
I suspect, but can't prove, that any swarm that held so much data would be fairly disinterested in the rest of the real universe - unless, of course the real universe posed some kind of threat.
However once this lower limit of size is reached, the civilisation could still expand into some sort of Dyson swarm, one which includes both tiny, dense processors and large power-collection systems and databases. In fact, this is more-or-less the condition of most Panvirtuality swarms in OA - each star colonised by the Panvirts holds an microcosm of staggering complexity.
I suspect, but can't prove, that any swarm that held so much data would be fairly disinterested in the rest of the real universe - unless, of course the real universe posed some kind of threat.