Nick Bostrom explores the vast potential resources available to advanced civilizations capable of interstellar expansion.

Bostrom discusses von Neumann probes—self-replicating spacecraft that could be deployed by mature civilizations for interstellar colonization

Probes traveling at 50% light speed could reach and colonize distant regions of space, vastly expanding accessible resources

The concept relates to the 'cosmic endowment'—the total resources and opportunities available across the observable universe

This excerpt is from Bostrom's 2014 book 'Superintelligence,' which examines long-term futures shaped by advanced AI and technology