Yes, I agree here. Efficiency concerns just lower the temperature you want to radiate at, which need not be related to the distance from the star until you’re using the entire surface area. Building further out does reduce energy usable per unit area (and likely also per unit mass), and also increases coordination problems, so it seems to be strictly a disadvantage. It isn’t that difficult to maintain equipment in the inner solar system at temperature far below the black-body equilibrium.
Also yes, Landauer’s principle isn’t binding in many ways, since it relies on multiple assumptions that may not hold or can be bypassed. Reversible computing is one, and also energy is not the only conserved quantity involved in thermodynamics.
Yes, I agree here. Efficiency concerns just lower the temperature you want to radiate at, which need not be related to the distance from the star until you’re using the entire surface area. Building further out does reduce energy usable per unit area (and likely also per unit mass), and also increases coordination problems, so it seems to be strictly a disadvantage. It isn’t that difficult to maintain equipment in the inner solar system at temperature far below the black-body equilibrium.
Also yes, Landauer’s principle isn’t binding in many ways, since it relies on multiple assumptions that may not hold or can be bypassed. Reversible computing is one, and also energy is not the only conserved quantity involved in thermodynamics.