622
18 Future Developments
energy sources, by the ability to learn and store present experiences, by the
advantages of colonization, by the use of hormones for distal communications,
by the application of electrical pulses for rapid intracellular communication, by
the development of specialized organs, by the evolution of sensory organs, by the
processing of information in a centralized ganglion and then brain, by the passing
of life survival and enhancing information by teaching, by the external storage
of information, by self-awareness, and by anticipation through conceptual model
building. Each threshold introduces an acceleration in evolution with slower periods
between (‘punctuated’ evolution).
18.8 The Im-Mortality Code
Someday, far far into the future, we will have a code which can closely approximate
the DNA structure of our ancestors, extrapolating backward and forward from
known progenitors and descendants. Let’s call the original ancestors ‘orgs’. Planets
could be given inhabitants with individuals, let’s call them ‘propes’, containing these
approximate ancestral DNA. Each such prope could be given the opportunity to be
educated in ways similar to the original ancestor, so that the productivity of the
original ancestor would have a chance to become active again. If the propes grow
up in environments similar to the orgs, and if they study the lives of the orgs, they
can become close approximates to the full personality of their originals. In this way,
the orgs, for all intent and purposes, live again. But we should realize that such
continued living can happen now when an individual decides to take on the ideas
and philosophy and even the experience of another. Having the same DNA helps
the process, but is not essential, since individual humans are so similar in capacity,
aspirations, and drives. The prope’s existence is a form of unexpected immortality.
Implementing the immorality code is not cloning. Cloning will likely be banned in
any democracy.
18.9 The Physics of the Light-Beam Transporter
The Star Trek transporter is difficult to make, but not impossible. First: Retrieve the
record of your complete genome. Second (the hard part): Record the current state
of your brain (i.e. every neuron configuration, every synapse, their environment,
connections, and plasticity). You might have to drink an illumination cocktail, to
make your synapses light up in a MRI machine. Third: Test the transporter by
having it send the information about you to the next room, where there is a human
replicator/Turing machine. To be reassured, you can ask your clone about your
mother. Fourth: Encode this information and send it over a laser beam to a distant
location. Sending should take only a few seconds, since the total information content
is less than 10 15 bits. Reception is delayed by limitations on signals traveling not
18 Future Developments
energy sources, by the ability to learn and store present experiences, by the
advantages of colonization, by the use of hormones for distal communications,
by the application of electrical pulses for rapid intracellular communication, by
the development of specialized organs, by the evolution of sensory organs, by the
processing of information in a centralized ganglion and then brain, by the passing
of life survival and enhancing information by teaching, by the external storage
of information, by self-awareness, and by anticipation through conceptual model
building. Each threshold introduces an acceleration in evolution with slower periods
between (‘punctuated’ evolution).
18.8 The Im-Mortality Code
Someday, far far into the future, we will have a code which can closely approximate
the DNA structure of our ancestors, extrapolating backward and forward from
known progenitors and descendants. Let’s call the original ancestors ‘orgs’. Planets
could be given inhabitants with individuals, let’s call them ‘propes’, containing these
approximate ancestral DNA. Each such prope could be given the opportunity to be
educated in ways similar to the original ancestor, so that the productivity of the
original ancestor would have a chance to become active again. If the propes grow
up in environments similar to the orgs, and if they study the lives of the orgs, they
can become close approximates to the full personality of their originals. In this way,
the orgs, for all intent and purposes, live again. But we should realize that such
continued living can happen now when an individual decides to take on the ideas
and philosophy and even the experience of another. Having the same DNA helps
the process, but is not essential, since individual humans are so similar in capacity,
aspirations, and drives. The prope’s existence is a form of unexpected immortality.
Implementing the immorality code is not cloning. Cloning will likely be banned in
any democracy.
18.9 The Physics of the Light-Beam Transporter
The Star Trek transporter is difficult to make, but not impossible. First: Retrieve the
record of your complete genome. Second (the hard part): Record the current state
of your brain (i.e. every neuron configuration, every synapse, their environment,
connections, and plasticity). You might have to drink an illumination cocktail, to
make your synapses light up in a MRI machine. Third: Test the transporter by
having it send the information about you to the next room, where there is a human
replicator/Turing machine. To be reassured, you can ask your clone about your
mother. Fourth: Encode this information and send it over a laser beam to a distant
location. Sending should take only a few seconds, since the total information content
is less than 10 15 bits. Reception is delayed by limitations on signals traveling not