Interstellar travel and post-humans

Our Sun is less than half way through its life. It formed 4.5 billion years ago, but it has got six billion more before the fuel runs out. It will then flare up, vaporizing any life that might still remain on Earth. Any creatures witnessing the Sun’s demise six billion years hence will not be human‑they will be as different from us as we are from a bug.

Post-human evolution could be as prolonged as the Darwinian evolution that has led tous, but at themuch accelerated rate allowed by genetic modification and the advance of machine intelligence. However this century may be a defining moment. We humans are entitled to feel uniquely significant, as the first known species with the power and the responsibility to mold its own future —and perhaps the future of intelligence in the cosmos. Three new technologies will be crucial in the rest of this century: advanced biotech, artificial intelligence and the ability to explore space.

By 2100 courageous pioneers may have established “bases” independent from the Earth but do not ever expect mass emigration from Earth. It is a dangerous delusion to think that space offers an escape from Earth’s problems. There is no “Planet B” and space is an inherently hostile environment for humans. For that reason, even though we may wish to regulate genetic and cyborg technology on Earth, we should surely wish the space pioneers good luck in using all such techniques to adapt to different atmospheres, different g-forces, and so on. This might be the first step toward divergence into a new species: the beginning of the post-human era.