Digital Consciousness for Interstellar Exploration
Q: After WWII Dorothy, Alice and Alan got back to their research interests. Dorothy became a genome biologist, Alice started studying cosmology, and Alan continued his work in computer science. They had numerous opportunities to meet each other at conferences and once had a discussion on a subject which bothered all three of them. They learned that Pinocchio established a rocket company with the intention to send humans on Mars. ‘This is so lame’ said Dorothy. ‘Human bodies are so fragile and depend on the ecological environment of Earth’ she continued. ‘This is really stupid to leave the Earth in the form of biological matter we currently encapsulated’ agreed Dorothy. Then she concluded ‘It would not solve the problem of long term surviving. The Sun is not forever and pretty soon the whole planetary system will disappear. We need to find a feasible and intelligent way to explore the Universe and populate it.’ All three spent a few long minutes in silence. ‘I have an idea,’ Alan said.