[SPOILERS] Maybe the Ark is not a bad place to live

[THX1138]

That is quite interesting, I never realised the probe had a robotic arm, but that would only be able to buy them some time, eventually the probe will have some form of unrepairable breakdown without any spare parts available. And they are probably unable to ever transfer themselves elsewhere, or ever regain a physicial/organic form.

Maybe they can. Maybe they have enough processing power to run the simulation at higher than normal speed and maybe they figure out a way to transcend the ark's design. Maybe they find a way to use the available materials to construct a smaller quantum computer with enough deltaV to return to the earth's surface. Then again, there are only like 50 of them in the simulation and it's not clear what information resources they have available to build upon.