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'we' did not go to Mars, 'we' did not go to pluto. We sent cameras with walky-talkies. That is so vastly different than sending people to the moon, that it's no

'we' did not go to Mars, 'we' did not go to pluto. We sent cameras with walky-talkies. That is so vastly different than sending people to the moon, that it's not really something we can disagree on in good faith. If you truly do not believe in the conservation of energy, I think we're done here since none of my arguments will be good enough for such wild speculation.

dheera 5y ago
If we can send cameras with walky-talkies, we can invent and send (possibly silicon-based) life forms that will carry on our legacy while being a lot more resistant to the elements, require much less support along the journey, and can tolerate whatever gases and radiation may be present at the destination while still reproducing and carrying on society just as life does now. Human bodies suck because they need to eat, need to poop, complain if what they eat isn't tasty, fight with each other, and get cancer, but our legacy as intelligent life doesn't need to continue in our current carbon-based meat bag form.
- OmicronCeti 5y ago
  I can't believe I'm entertaining a reply, but how would a human-invented lifeform sent to the stars carry on human society if it is a) not human, and b) light years spatially distance and thousands of years temporally distant? This reads like an ungrad astronomy major fever dream.
  - dheera 5y ago
    It would carry on our legacy as intelligent life. I don't think maintaining our current iteration in evolution is a condition that should be valued. We can evolve, or invent another life form that carries our civilization forward. Yes, it reads like a dream. Technological breakthroughs of the past were created by people with dreams, not by skeptics.
  - natch 5y ago
    The question “what makes us human” is a deep one that has vexed philosophers for a long time. I don’t have the answer. If you have the answer, forgive me if I take it with a grain of salt. I do think it’s possible that our best hope for navigating the transition beyond the singularity involves transplanting our humanness to another kind of life form. I’m not necessarily talking about uploading… more about a staggered intergenerational transition mixed in with life as we know it. I realize that to some people, this will continue to sound like crazy talk, until one day it isn’t. It’s ok if you are one of those people :-).

dheera 5y ago

If we can send cameras with walky-talkies, we can invent and send (possibly silicon-based) life forms that will carry on our legacy while being a lot more resistant to the elements, require much less support along the journey, and can tolerate whatever gases and radiation may be present at the destination while still reproducing and carrying on society just as life does now. Human bodies suck because they need to eat, need to poop, complain if what they eat isn't tasty, fight with each other, and get cancer, but our legacy as intelligent life doesn't need to continue in our current carbon-based meat bag form.

OmicronCeti 5y ago
I can't believe I'm entertaining a reply, but how would a human-invented lifeform sent to the stars carry on human society if it is a) not human, and b) light years spatially distance and thousands of years temporally distant? This reads like an ungrad astronomy major fever dream.
- dheera 5y ago
  It would carry on our legacy as intelligent life. I don't think maintaining our current iteration in evolution is a condition that should be valued. We can evolve, or invent another life form that carries our civilization forward. Yes, it reads like a dream. Technological breakthroughs of the past were created by people with dreams, not by skeptics.
- natch 5y ago
  The question “what makes us human” is a deep one that has vexed philosophers for a long time. I don’t have the answer. If you have the answer, forgive me if I take it with a grain of salt. I do think it’s possible that our best hope for navigating the transition beyond the singularity involves transplanting our humanness to another kind of life form. I’m not necessarily talking about uploading… more about a staggered intergenerational transition mixed in with life as we know it. I realize that to some people, this will continue to sound like crazy talk, until one day it isn’t. It’s ok if you are one of those people :-).