[BlackSquare]

Theories on how to move human beings throughout the Universe have focused on cryogenics and faster-than-light travel to move existing human beings throughout the universe;

Removing ourselves from the equation, could there be other ways we as a species could conquer the Universe? Theory: Launching hundreds of thousands of automated drones to potential hospitable worlds throughout the galaxy. Drones equipped with AI specifically programmed to carry digitally-stored genetic data of human beings and all other plants and animals to outer worlds, and on successful arrival, develop, raise, and educate several generations of human beings until they become a mature and self-governing colony. Drones would include all of existing human knowledge, science, art, history, and philosophy.



The drones would be able to travel at a small fraction of the speed of light, but can travel theoretically indefinitely until a hospitable planet can be found. Existing humans on earth could one day visit these pre-established colonies once we have developed the technology to do so. Drones may not arrive at a hospitable planet until long after humanity has destroyed itself, but the drones act as seeds propagating new human colonies throughout the Universe in search of new fertile worlds. Potentially millions of years after humanity has ceased to exist, it could be reborn thousands of times in thousands of locations separated by vast distances in space.

We may soon have the technology to do this, but would we want to? What would the potential consequence be? Does our need to exist and proliferate as a species extend to unknown worlds where we may never visit?

[Rancid]

I think we should just download our memories into said drones, and basically become the drones.

[BlackSquare]

Surely we are more than the sum of our memories.

[Rancid]

Sure we are, perhaps by then we'll be able to map our neural network (brain) as well. couple that with memories, and we could effectively clone ourselves.

[BlackSquare]

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather humanity not become the borg.

[Potemkin]

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather humanity not become the borg.

Millions of years from now, it may be our only viable future. Our current technologically sophisticated civilisation is clearly not sustainable, as it exceeds the carrying capacity of the Earth. At best, we have a few centuries before it all collapses. Using AI drones to seed the galaxy seems eminently sensible to me, and is the only realistic option before our window of opportunity closes forever. Besides, the human race has always been changing and evolviong, and will likely always continue to do so. Reality doesn't care what we may or may not think of the results of that change; besides, we'll be long dead anyways so it's not going to matter what our precious feelz about the future once were. I'm pretty sure that a caveman called Ugg once told a caveman called Ogg, "Call me old fashioned, but..." Lol.

[Varax]

See? Potemkin gets it. And this is why you are awesome Pote.

*waits for RhetoricThug to find this thread*

[BlackSquare]

Other questions about this theory: How would the colonies react if or when the people of earth arrive? Would the colonies claim autonomy and rebel against the invaders? How would the colonists view the AI that raised them? Would the colonist's biology, technology, and culture diverge so much from our own that we would be forced to recognize them as an alien species?