May 07 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Other Year: General Rating: 9 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
After rising from the ‘primordial soup’ to become today’s
amazing humans, futurists ponder our next step. Hawking, Kurzweil,
Drexel and others see technologies advancing exponentially in the
coming centuries providing a future filled with happiness,
affluence, and a greatly extended lifespan. 
Of course, no one knows for sure how life will progress in 500
years, but if we look at what experts predict in the near future –
biotech wonders repairing bodies in the 2010s, nanotech providing
affluence for everyone in the 2020s, and 2030s miracles that
suggest rebuilding bodies with ‘immortal’ materials – then blend in
some creative thoughts, a future appears that seems more magical
than real.
Imagine a world with only 2,000 families, each living on an
estate the size of California with snow-capped mountains, deserts
and beautiful coastlines. Now further imagine that ‘humanoid’
robots cater to our every whim and we can change the weather with
voice commands (“let there be snow; rain; sunshine”), but here’s
the best part: these estates are available at no cost in a time
when commerce is no longer a part of our lives.
The only catch is that you are a long ways from Earth. Your new
home is located on a newly-terraformed planet orbiting 16 Cygni, a
double-star system seventy light-years from Earth. Hoping to
encourage more people to become space-dwellers, AI officials offer
deals like this with the following arrangement: “Stay one year in
your new home, become active in global politics, and this beautiful
nano-protected estate will belong to your family forever”.
(cont.)
Space interest quickened after scientists harnessed
near-light-speed travel in the 2300s and began launching
nano-probes that soon discovered the star system mentioned above, a
solar system similar to ours. This prompted a rush to develop
warp-speed propulsion and the race was on.
By early 2400s, scientists improved ways to mine star energy,
and by 2500 enough power became available to create wormholes that
can carry information instantly to anywhere in the universe, or
back and forward through time.
Wormholes cannot transport bodies, so scientists developed
methods to send scanned copies of minds, memories and emotions
along with instructions for ‘bots to create bodies at the
destination site. Upon confirmation of a successful “trip”, your
old body deactivates, preventing a duplicate you from existing.
Time travel, the more radical portion of this wonder-technology
offers even greater benefits. By sending ‘bots to the future we
create a safety net. Being aware of aggressive ‘borg-like’
civilizations helps us build stronger defenses.
In backwards time travel, ‘bots search spacetime for our lost
loved ones, scan their minds before they died; and bring them into
our time allowing their lives to continue. Some forward-thinkers
talk of reviving everyone who ever lived (even our cave-dwelling
ancestors); and after adequate intelligence training, utilize them
to help colonize new worlds. This over-the-top idea is spurring
debates everywhere.
Humanity’s first in depth alien encounter occurred in 2400 at a
formal meeting on Mars with inhabitants from Garth, a small planet
orbiting 47 Ursae Majoris, 43 light years from Earth. Garth and
Earth co-founded the Milky Way Federation with goals to develop all
habitable planets in the galaxy.
To date, explorers have discovered more than 1,000 new
extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations, with about half of them
joining the Federation. So far, Earthlings and Garthlings possess
the strongest intelligence and have assumed the largest number of
Federation responsibilities.
Could a future like this happen? Though portions of this piece
describe fictional scenarios, many forward-thinkers believe a
future similar to this could one day become reality. And here’s the
best part: many who are reading this post could survive and
experience this “magical future” first-hand.
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