Can the world survive an apocalypse?
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In Hollywood films, when apocalypse looms, the plucky heroes usually manage to rustle together a solution to anything - whether it’s a robot uprising, a man-made plague or an asteroid strike. But with current technologies, the reality of humankind’s chances is liable to be a little less exciting - and a lot more depressing.
When American government representatives asked NASA head Charles Boden what the best response to a large asteroid headed for New York City would be, his answer was simple: “Pray”.
Franck Marchis, a former Berkeley astronomer says of the chances of an asteroid strike: “It won’t happen tomorrow. But it will happen. It’s a matter of time.”
So, with that in mind, let’s look at our options…
Man merges with machine
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Russian billionaire Dmitry Itskov believes that by 2025, it will be possible to transplant a human brain into a robot body. And by 2035, he feels it will be possible to “upload” a human mind into a computer, making the transfer easier.
Such hybrid man-machines might be able to survive harsh environments underground - or even off the planet entirely.
Dr Ian Pearson, a “futurologist” who consults for Hollywood films says that predictions of “intelligent” robots are less far-fetched than one might think.
“I think androids will be our most likely successor on this planet,” Dr Pearson says. “Androids can have some intelligence on-board and some networked. They could just as easily house synthetic intelligence or a human mind from a body that has died.”
Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that by 2050, man and machine may have “merged” - with humans augmented with robot parts, giving them superhuman intelligence.
“We ultimately will merge with this technology,” said Kurzweil, “It's already very close to us. What now fits in our pockets would fit in a blood cell in 25 years.”
We move to Mars
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The first missions to Mars could touch down in less than ten years - providing they can raise the necessary billions first.
"We know we're eventually going to Mars," said NASA’s Dan Dumbacher.
There are also several other private missions in the planning stages. Paypal co-founder Elon Musk even named a ticket price of $500,000 per person to get to Mars. Musk said at a press conference, “I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.”
“In principle, getting humans to Mars is possible now,” says Bas Landsdorp of Netherlands firm Mars One, which aims to start a colony on Mars in 2023. The program would see the first explorers of the Red Planet take a one-way trip to the planet, establishing a robot-built colony and would be joined by other human astronauts thereafter.
NASA is already investigating technologies to make the trip easier - such as a variation on the “cryogenics” used to freeze space travellers in films such as ‘Aliens’.
“A means for full cryo-preservation and restoration remains a long way off still. However, recent medical progress is quickly advancing our ability to induce deep sleep states over extended periods of time,” says NASA.
We sail to Proxima Centauri
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Travelling to other star systems does not require the aid of yet-to-be-invented technologies such as Star Trek’s Warp Drive - at least according to one NASA expert.
We just need to build spacecraft on a scale yet unseen - and prepare for a voyage lasting decades.
Les Johnson of NASA’s Advanced Concepts Office explains: “There are ways, in known physics, that will enable us to go from here to there, but in order to do that, we have to think differently. We have to start thinking big. And I mean really big.”
Johnson’s suggestions included a “solar sail” the size of Nevada - and spaceships where generations would live and die as they travelled between star systems. “If our spacecraft could travel at 10% of the speed of light, which currently isn’t possible, it would take 44 years to get to our nearest star,” he said.
Johnson says this might be possible within 100 years.
We are wiped out - but bacteria fly to other worlds
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Phil Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy blog, and a former Hubble scientist at NASA says that the “planet killer” asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs would have had a million times the destructive power of all the nuclear weapons built during the Cold War.
“If we do nothing, then eventually a decent-sized asteroid will hit us,” Plait says today.
But while it might not be much consolation, such an impact might not mean the end of life itself - just of human life. When the dinosaurs were wiped out, mammals (including our ancestors) survived.
Previous studies have shown that bacteria could potentially survive the radiation and other dangers of space within such rocks. The Penn State simulation showed that over time, thousands of such rocks could reach environments such as icy moons where life could begin again.
“Fragments from the Earth can reach the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and thus could potentially carry life there,” researcher Rachel Worth told Universe Today.
We engineer “transhumans” from other animals
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Futurologist Dr. Ian Pearson says that the idea of super-intelligent animals is not as far-fetched as it might seem.
“If we want to make transhumans with superhuman capability safely, it is highly likely that at some point, enhancements will be tried on animals,” says Dr Pearson.
Such creatures would play “host” to human minds - or hybrid human-machine minds - downloaded from computers.
“We wouldn't use a mouse to try out a major brain enhancement,” says Dr Pearson. “We would probably need an ape. So we could link some superhuman intelligence to an ape brain, for example, to make sure it's safe, or maybe even change it genetically, or even both. Viruses are often used as a vehicle to transfer genes into organisms in labs.”
There you have it. What plan do you prefer – or do you have any better ideas?
