The Future of Humanity

by Michio Kaku

  Today, we see the consequences of this Great Diaspora.

  We see a variety of humans of different colors, sizes, shapes, and cultures who have no ancestral memory of their true origins. One can even calculate roughly how divergent the human race is. If we assume that one generation is 20 years long, then at most about 3,500 generations separate any two humans on the planet.

  But today, tens of thousands of years later, with modern technology, we can begin to re-create all the migration routes of the past and build an ancestral family tree of human migrations over the past seventy-five thousand years.

  I had a vivid demonstration of this while hosting a BBC TV science special about the nature of time. BBC took some of my DNA and sequenced it. Four of my genes were then carefully compared with the genes of thousands of other individuals around the world, looking for a match. Then the locations of the people who matched these four genes were identified on a map. The result was rather interesting. It showed a concentration of people scattered through Japan and China who had a match, but then there was a thin trail of dots that tapered off into the distance near the Gobi Desert, through Tibet. So, using DNA analysis, it was possible to retrace the route that my ancestors took about twenty thousand years ago.

  HOW FAR WILL WE DIVERGE?

  How far will humanity diverge over thousands of years? Will humanity be recognizable after tens of thousands of years of genetic separation?

  This question can actually be answered using DNA as a “clock.” Biologists have noticed that DNA mutates at roughly the same rate across the ages. For example, our closest evolutionary neighbor is the chimpanzee. Analysis of the chimpanzee shows that we differ by approximately 4 percent of our DNA. Studies of chimpanzee and human fossils indicate that we separated from them about 6 million years ago.

  This means that our DNA mutated at the rate of 1 percent over a period of 1.5 million years. This is only an approximate number, but let us see if it can allow us to understand the ancient history of our own DNA.

  Assume, for the moment, that this rate of change (1 percent change every 1.5 million years) is roughly constant.

  Now let us analyze the Neanderthal, our closest humanlike kin. DNA and fossil analysis of the Neanderthal show that their DNA differs from our DNA by about 0.5 percent and that we separated from them roughly five hundred thousand to a million years ago. So this is in rough agreement with the DNA clock.

  If we now analyze the human race, we find that any two humans chosen at random can differ in their DNA by 0.1 percent. Our clock then says that different branches began to diverge about 150,000 years ago, which is in rough agreement with the actual origins of humanity.

  So given this DNA clock, we can calculate roughly when we diverged from the chimpanzees, the Neanderthals, and also our fellow human beings.

  The point is that we can use this clock to estimate how far humanity will change in the future if we disperse throughout the galaxy and don’t drastically tinker with our DNA. Assume for the moment that we remain a Type II civilization with only sub-light-speed rockets for 100,000 years.

  Even if different human settlements lose all contact with other branches of humanity, this means humans will probably only diverge by about 0.1 percent in our DNA, which is the amount of divergence that we already see today among humans.

  The conclusion here is that, as humanity spreads throughout the galaxy at sub-light speed and different branches lose all contact with other branches, we will still be basically human. Even after 100,000 years, when we might reasonably be expected to attain light speed, different human settlements will differ no more than any two humans on the Earth today.

  This phenomenon also applies to the very language that we speak. Archeologists and linguists have noticed that a startling pattern emerges when they try to trace the origin of language. They find that languages constantly branch out into other smaller dialects due to migrations; over time, these new dialects become full-fledged languages themselves.

  If we create a vast tree of all known languages and how they branched off one another and compare it with the ancestral tree detailing ancient migration routes, we find an identical pattern.

  For example, Iceland, which has been largely isolated from Europe since 874 AD, when the first Norwegian settlements began, can be used as a laboratory to test linguistic and genetic theories. The Icelandic language is closely related to the Norwegian language of the ninth century, with a little bit of Scottish and Irish thrown in the mix. (This is probably due to the Vikings taking slaves from Scotland and Ireland.) It is then possible to create a DNA clock and a linguistic clock to roughly calculate how much divergence there is over a thousand years. Even after a thousand years, one can easily find evidence of ancient migration patterns imprinted in their language.

  But even if our DNA and language still resemble themselves after thousands of years of separation, what about our culture and our beliefs? Will we be able to understand and identify with these divergent cultures?

  COMMON CORE VALUES

  When we look at the Great Diaspora and the civilizations that it created, we see not only a variety of physical differences in skin color, size, hair, et cetera, but also a certain core set of characteristics that are remarkably the same across all cultures, even when they lost all contact with one another for thousands of years.

  We see evidence of this today when we go to the movies. People of different races and cultures, who might have diverged from us seventy-five thousand years ago, still laugh, cry, and thrill at the same moment in the film. Translators of foreign films notice the commonality of the jokes and humor in the movies, although the languages themselves diverged long ago.

  This also applies to our sense of aesthetics. If we visit an art museum that has exhibits from ancient civilizations, we see common themes. Regardless of the culture, we find artwork depicting landscape scenes, portraits of the rich and powerful, and images of myths and gods. Although the sense of beauty is difficult to quantify, what is considered beautiful in one culture is often considered beautiful by another totally unrelated culture. For example, no matter which culture we examine, we see similar flowers and floral patterns.

  Another theme that cuts across the barriers of space and time is our common social values. One core concern is for the welfare of others. This means kindness, generosity, friendship, thoughtfulness. Various forms of the Golden Rule are found in numerous civilizations. Many of the religions of the world, at the most fundamental level, stress the same concepts, such as charity and sympathy for the poor and unfortunate.

  The other core characteristic is focused not inward, but outward. This includes curiosity, innovation, creativity, and the urge to explore and discover. All the cultures of the world have myths and legends about great explorers and pathfinders.

  Thus, the caveman principle recognizes that our core personalities have not changed much in two hundred thousand years, so even as we spread out among the stars, we will most likely retain our values and personal characteristics.

  Furthermore, psychologists have noted that there might be an image of what is attractive that is encoded in our brain. If we take photographs of hundreds of different people at random and then, using computers, superimpose these pictures on top of one another, we see a composite, average image that emerges. Surprisingly, this image is considered by many to be attractive. If true, this implies that there is an average image that might be hardwired in our brains that determines what we consider to be attractive. What we consider to be beautiful in a person’s face is actually the norm, not the exception.

  But what happens when we finally attain Type III status and have the capability of faster-than-light travel? Will we spread the values and aesthetics of our world across the galaxy?

  TRANSITION TO TYPE III

  Eventually, a Type II civilization may exhaust the power of not just its home star but all the nearby stars and gradually start the journey to become a Type III civilization, which is galactic. Not only can a Ty
pe III civilization harvest the energy from billions of stars, it can also harness the energy of black holes, like the supermassive one located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, which weighs as much as two million suns. If a starship travels in the direction of our galactic nuclei, we find a vast collection of dense stars and dust clouds that would be an ideal source of energy for a Type III civilization. To communicate across the galaxy, such an advanced civilization may use gravity waves, which were first predicted by Einstein in 1916 but finally detected by physicists in 2016. Unlike laser beams, which might be absorbed, scattered, and diffused as they travel, gravity waves would be able to spread across the stars and galaxy and therefore may be more reliable over great distances.

  It is unclear at this point whether faster-than-light travel is feasible, so we need to consider for the moment the possibility that it is not.

  If only sub-light spacecraft are possible, then a Type III civilization may decide to explore the billions of worlds in their galactic backyard by sending self-replicating probes that travel at sub-light speeds to the stars. The idea is to place these robotics on a distant moon. Moons make an ideal choice because their environments are more stable, without erosion, and they are easy to land on and leave from, because of their low gravity. With solar collectors to supply energy, a lunar probe can scan the solar system and radio back useful information indefinitely.

  Once it has landed, the probe will create a factory from the lunar material in order to manufacture a thousand copies of itself. Each clone in the second generation then blasts off to colonize other distant moons. So, starting with one robot, we then have a thousand. If each of them creates another thousand robots, then we have a million. Then a billion. Then a trillion. In just a few generations, we can have an expanding sphere containing quadrillions of these devices, which scientists call von Neumann machines.

  This in fact is the plot of the movie 2001, which even today portrays perhaps the most realistic encounter with an alien intelligence. In that movie, aliens put a von Neumann machine, the monolith, on the moon, which sends signals to a relay station based on Jupiter in order to monitor and even influence the evolution of humanity.

  So our first encounter may not be with a bug-eyed monster but with a small self-replicating probe. This could be quite small, miniaturized by nanotechnology, perhaps so small that you would not even notice it. Conceivably, in your backyard or on the moon, there is evidence of a past visitation that is nearly invisible.

  In fact, Professor Paul Davies has made a proposal. He wrote an article advocating going back to the moon in order to search for anomalous energy signatures or radio transmissions. If a von Neumann probe landed on the moon millions of years ago, it would likely use sunlight for its power, so it could continually broadcast radio emissions. And since the moon has no erosion, chances are it will be in near-perfect working condition and may still be in operation.

  Since there is renewed interest in going back to the moon and then on to Mars, this would give scientists an excellent opportunity to see if any evidence exists for the presence of previous visitations.

  (Some people, like Erich von Däniken, have claimed that alien ships already landed centuries ago and that these alien astronauts are depicted in the artwork of ancient civilizations. They claim that the elaborate headdresses and costumes often found in ancient paintings and monuments are actually depictions of ancient astronauts, with their helmets, fuel tanks, pressure suits, et cetera. While this idea cannot be dismissed, it is very difficult to prove. Ancient paintings are not enough. We need positive, tangible proof of previous visitations. For example, if there were alien spaceports, there must be debris and waste left over, in the form of wires, chips, tools, electronics, garbage, and machinery. One alien chip would settle this entire debate. So if one of your acquaintances claims to have been abducted by aliens from space, tell him or her to steal something from the ship the next time it happens.)

  So even if light speed cannot be broken, a Type III civilization could have trillions upon trillions of probes spread across the entire galaxy within a few hundred thousand years, all sending back useful information.

  Von Neumann machines may be the most efficient way for a Type III civilization to obtain information concerning the state of the galaxy. But there is yet another way to explore the galaxy more directly, and this is through something I call “laser porting.”

  LASER PORTING TO THE STARS

  One of the dreams of science fiction writers is to be able to explore the universe as pure-energy beings. Perhaps one day, far in the future, we might be able to shed our material existence and roam the cosmos, riding on a beam of light. We would be able to travel to distant stars at the fastest possible velocity. When we are free of material constraints, we would be able to ride alongside comets, skim the surface of erupting volcanoes, fly past the rings of Saturn, and visit destinations on the other side of the galaxy.

  Instead of being a flight of fantasy, this dream may actually be rooted in solid science. In chapter 10, we analyzed the Human Connectome Project, the ambitious effort to map the entire brain. Perhaps late in this century or early in the next, we will have the complete map, which in principle will contain all our memories, sensations, feelings, even our personality. Then the connectome might be placed on a laser beam and sent into outer space. All the information necessary to create a digital copy of your mind can travel across the heavens.

  In one second, your connectome could be sent to the moon. Within minutes it could reach Mars. Within hours, it could reach the gas giants. And within four years, you could visit Proxima Centauri. Within a hundred thousand years, you could reach the ends of the Milky Way galaxy.

  Once it arrives on a distant planet, the information on the laser beam would be downloaded into a mainframe computer. Then your connectome could control a robotic avatar. Its body is so sturdy that it can survive even if the atmosphere is poisonous, the temperature is freezing or hellish, or the gravity strong or weak. So although all your neural patterns are contained inside the mainframe computer, you have all the sensations coming from the avatar. For all intents and purposes, you are inhabiting it.

  The advantage of this approach is that there is no need for messy, expensive booster rockets or space stations. You never face the problem of weightlessness, asteroid collisions, radiation, accidents, and boredom because you are transmitted as pure information. And at the speed of light, you have taken the fastest possible journey to the stars. From your point of view, the trip is instantaneous. All you remember is entering the laboratory and then instantly arriving at your destination. (This is because time effectively stops while riding on the light beam. Your consciousness is frozen as you move at the speed of light, so you travel across the cosmos without any time delay. This is quite different from suspended animation, since when traveling at the speed of light, as I mentioned, time effectively stops. And while you would not see the sights while you were in transit, you could stop at any relay station and observe your surroundings.)

  I call this “laser porting,” and it is perhaps the most convenient and rapid way to reach the stars. A Type I civilization a century from now may be able to conduct the first laser porting experiments. But for Type II and III civilizations, laser porting may be the preferred method of transportation across the galaxy because they will most likely have already colonized distant planets with self-replicating robots. Perhaps a Type III civilization would have a vast laser porting superhighway connecting the stars in the Milky Way galaxy with trillions of souls in transit at any one time.

  Although this idea seems to provide the most convenient way to explore the galaxy, to actually create the laser port requires solving several practical problems.

  Placing your connectome on a laser beam is not a problem, since lasers can in principle transport unlimited amounts of information. The main problem is to create a network of relay stations along the way that receive your connectome, amplify it, and send it along to the next station. As w
e mentioned, the Oort Cloud extends several light-years from a star, so the Oort Clouds from different stars can overlap. Thus, stationary comets in the Oort Cloud may provide ideal sites for these relay stations. (Creating relay stations on Oort Cloud comets would be preferable to placing them on a distant moon, since moons orbit around planets and are often obscured by them, while these comets are stationary.)

  As we’ve seen, these relay stations can only be set up at slower-than-light-speed velocities. One way to solve this problem is to use a system of laser sails, which travel at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Once these laser sails land on an Oort Cloud comet, they could use nanotechnology to make copies of themselves and assemble a relay station using the raw materials found on the comet.

  So although the original relay stations would have to be made at sub-light speeds, after that our connectomes could be free to roam at light speed.

  Laser porting could be used not only for scientific purposes but also for recreation. We might take a vacation among the stars. We would first map out a sequence of planets, moons, or comets we wish to visit, no matter how hostile or dangerous the environment may be. We might make a checklist of the types of avatars that we wish to inhabit. (These avatars do not exist in virtual reality but are actual robots endowed with superhuman powers.) So on each planet, there is an avatar waiting for us with all the traits and superpowers we desire. When we reach that planet, we assume the identity of that avatar, travel across the planet, and enjoy all the incredible sights. Afterward, we return the robot for the next customer to use. Then we laser-port to the next destination. In a single vacation, we may be able to explore several moons, comets, and exoplanets. We never have to worry about accidents or illnesses, since it is just our connectome roaming across the galaxy.