On Engineering Independence

John von Neumann’s 1948–1952 theory of self-reproducing automata established that finite machines can, in principle, manufacture exact functional copies of themselves. In 2025 the binding constraint on space­-industrial scale is no longer lift cost but the scarcity of capable labor, priced at ≈ $2 × 10⁵ USD per productive astronaut-hour. I formalise the problem as minimising the expected cost of labor, C_L = (E + M)/ρ, where E is local energy, M is feedstock, and ρ is the replication rate. Evolutionary robotics and real-option analysis jointly favour a multi-limbed general-purpose, non-humanoid, “insectoid” architecture; a more redundant, tool-agnostic, and substrate-indifferent pathway, as the cost-optimal carrier of self-replication. I derive the labour-cost asymptote, review terrestrial data (sub-$35 hr⁻¹ heavy industrial labor), and outline a phased path in which high-cadence Starship launches and ultra-cheap autonomous labor collapse the interplanetary supply-chain premium toward local energy and matter, enabling truly scalable, exponential off-world industry at the limit of self-sufficiency.