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http://issuu.com/mariamal-shamali/docs/post-planet_final_project

Do humans need beliefs to survive?

By Sergio Taveras

Beliefs are a collection of stories that we tell ourselves. Stories are essential to connect ourselves to our past but is it enough for the continuation of humanity?

To believe: Mental acceptance or conviction in the truth or actuality of something.

Beliefs function as a catalyst of action, but Beliefs act as barriers towards further understanding. Conscious human beings can learn to gather, understand, and accumulate knowledge and act on it without owning a single belief and this provides far more of an advantage for the advancement of knowledge than a disadvantage. You can feel that something seems true, even if false, while at the same time you do not have to think of it as true. Belief of any kind puts a kind of shield on the thinker and puts in its place a form of thought which in effect says: "This is real." Because our models and theories represent limited knowledge about the world, this forces us to examine the universe within boundaries. However, one should not eliminate the feeling of beliefs; only that one can eliminate the ownership of them.

Fantasies and imaginations, of course require no belief in them. But They provide us a way to model and hypothesis non-actual events that may eventually lead to knowledge of actual things or perhaps even a novel invention. Fantasy coupled with ideas about actual events can lead to great insights about future events.

We can imagine a technology similar to the one in the matrix that helps expand imagination and promote accelerated learning that is essential for a post-planetary era.

On Taking Our Stories with Us

Inspired by cave paintings, Sagan’s Golden Record, and nuclear waste warning signs, MIT artist-in-residence Trevor Paglen created a collection of 100 images that were etched onto an ultra-archival, golden silicon disc and sent into orbit onboard the Echostar XVI satellite in 2012. Paglen asked the question: “What does it mean that, in the near or far future, there will be no evidence of human civilization on the earth’s surface?”

Paglen’s project inspired me to think about a particular aspect of the possible post-planetary existence of humankind: If we had to leave earth in the near future what would we take with us? Expectedly, if there were a such journey, we would not be able to carry much but how can we bring our individual and collective consciousness, memory and history with us? This question calls out several design problems such as how do we choose what to bring, in which form and medium will we store the information and how will we ensure the integrity and usability of it.

Perhaps a good way to start is to articulate why it is important to document and bring our memory and consciousness; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines memory as follows: “Memory labels a diverse set of cognitive capacities by which we retain information and reconstruct past experiences, usually for present purposes. Memory is one of the most important ways by which our histories animate our current actions and experiences. Remembering is often suffused with emotion, and is closely involved in both extended affective states such as love and grief, and socially significant practices such as promising and commemorating. It is essential for much reasoning and decision-making, both individual and collective. Much of our moral and social life depends on the peculiar ways in which we are embedded in time.” So, it is not only for the sake of remembering, memory is likely to be important in making sense of the continuity of the self, of the relation between mind and body, and of our experience of time, all of which are essential needs on a journey of colonization or such.

What about consciousness? Wikipedia defines consciousness as the quality or state of self-awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. It has been defined as: sentience, awareness, subjectivity, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind. Hence, it is one of the most important properties of mankind, in fact, the level of consciousness that humans have separates them from the rest of the living organisms - at least as far as we currently understand it. If humans leave the earth for an unknown future that may take centuries, consciousness would be essential to preserve the sense of self relative to the other people in the journey.

Such journey is likely to be a very long one and it is highly probable that it will require a technology to ‘hibernate' the travelers for long periods of time. In this context, documenting and storing the memory and consciousness becomes even more important. Because these long periods of hibernation may cause loss of information and that storage may be a very useful tool to retrieve the lost information. Also, it is highly probable that there will be more than one ship leaving the earth in different directions. As the time and distance increases between those groups, this archive will also act as a common reference for past and future.

But how can we extract and encode individual and societal memory and consciousness? For the memory part, we currently do not seem to have an answer, however, as the neuroscience and AI fields advances, I believe it will soon be possible to replicate all of the information in human brain. As for the ‘template’ or the ‘code’ that will make sense of this information - which is our consciousness - at the absence of our current context, there seems to be a promising realization in science: Microtubule quantum vibrations. Hameroff and Penrose suggest that consciousness derives from quantum vibrations in microtubules, protein polymers inside brain neurons, which both govern neuronal and synaptic function, and connect brain processes to self-organizing processes in the fine scale, 'proto-conscious' quantum structure of reality. This is not a new theory and has been around for about 15 years, however, their new paper starts providing supporting evidence that turn the skepticism around. If this proves to be right, it provides a universal and unique physical patterns that may constitute a software-like ‘template’. Given that this software-like template may end up with a different outcome for different contexts in place, it is unknown if any consciousness can be flawlessly replicated. At the same time, it is exactly why we need to have the memory as well in order to at least be able to artificially mimic the context.

Assuming we are able to extract this information, next question is how to store it. The amount of information is huge. Each of us, on average, has an annual data footprint of nearly one terabyte, and together we amount to a staggering five zettabytes per year. Since each byte consists of eight bits humanity’s aggregate annual data footprint is equivalent to a gobsmacking forty sextillion (40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) bits. Another challenge is that this long journey may include very rough environments with extreme conditions. So considering the storage size and the extreme conditions, what medium can we use? One design idea might be to combine DNA as the main storage and Tardigrades as surrogates.

Why DNA? Recently, a bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a thousand times. From another perspective, one gram of DNA can store data equivalent of 14,000 50-gigabyte Blu-ray discs. To store the same kind of data on hard drives — the densest storage medium in use today — you’d need 233 3TB drives, weighing a total of 151 kilos. Scientists have been eyeing up DNA as a potential storage medium for a long time, for three very good reasons: It’s incredibly dense (you can store one bit per base, and a base is only a few atoms large); it’s volumetric (beaker) rather than planar (hard disk); and it’s incredibly stable — where other bleeding-edge storage mediums need to be kept in sub-zero vacuums, DNA can survive for hundreds of thousands of years in a box.

Tardigrades on the other hand, are microscopic animals. They are less than 1mm long and are found in the sea, in fresh water and on land. Tardigrades earned the "hardiest animal on earth" tag having evolved elaborate dormancy strategies that allow them to shut down all but the essential biological processes when conditions are not conducive to supporting life. In 2007, a little known creature called a tardigrade became the first animal to survive exposure to space. It prevailed over sub-zero temperatures, unrelenting solar winds and an oxygen-deprived space vacuum. In very cold or hot temperature, or when there is very little water, Tardigrades go into a state of suspended animation called “cryptobiosis” (“hidden life”). They retract their legs, lose 99% of the water in their bodies and shrink into a dry ball called a “tun.” And they can keep on doing this indefinitely. That is why instead of taking the DNA storage and placing it in an unknown artificial physical space, having tardigrades surrogate them might be a valid idea to ensure the integrity.

Another question to address is how can we ensure the usability of all of this information. Considering that the journey might take hundreds if not thousands of years, how can the future generations understand the language structure of the original information and make sense in these archives? A possible solution might be a combination of an automated system and human skills. The automated systems might track and sense the change of the language and accordingly, create translation keys in regular periods. However, the more interesting development might be the emergence of a new profession or a social group: post-planetary storytellers.

Light-years away from their origin and having all the information about a world -earth- they can not relate to, humans in these journeys will need the help of stories - assuming they are still human. Stories are powerful because they transport us into other people’s worlds but, in doing that, they change the way our brains work and potentially change our brain chemistry - and that’s what it means to be a social creature. Storytelling on the other hand, starting from the history of mankind, is used as a bridge for knowledge and understanding allowing the values of “self” and “community” to connect and be learned as a whole. So, there will need to be a system - most likely another human or group of humans - that has the skills to deal with DNA (biochemistry/genetics), data (data science), archeology and storytelling among many others. These people will not only be responsible for preserving the information but also help others in understanding, interpreting and connecting the huge amounts of information in order to make sense. In order to minimize the bias that exists in the history, instead of telling the stories themselves, this new generation of storytellers will facilitate the people to create their own stories. They will ultimately be responsible to help re-construct the stories of the past to help ease the nostalgia of the post-planetary generations to remember and connect.

To conclude, a journey that will require humans to travel far away from earth - the motherland - is highly probable in the near future. If that happens, it is important to bring our memory and consciousness with us in order to fill in the gaps between what we are now and what we will become, between where we are now and where we will be. Advancement in science -as a form of means - and art - as a form of storytelling - is the key to accomplish that task. As E.O. Wilson, a renowned Harvard sociobiologist, stated, “In the early stages of creation of both art and science, everything in the mind is a story”, and considering the long journey that lies in front of mankind, we might still consider ourselves to be in the early stages of creation. Hence, it is important to design the tools and methods to capture and pass along those stories.

http://www.june-west.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Final-Research-Paper-Post-Planetary.pdf

#june west #post planetary #parsons #consciousness

Europa's geology. Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jup_Europa

Europa. Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jup_Europa

Nuclear power stations operational around the world. Graphic by Jenny Ridley. Source: The Gardian

What is in humanity’s suitcase? off-planet immigration in a post-catastrophic scenario

By Mariam Alshamali

Science fiction have often tested the off planet scenario hypothesizing on the range of implications that space immigration would impose, and the circumstances in which it might occur. One of the recurring questions in such a scenario is what would humans take with them to outer space. In order to answer this question, this research will need to hypothesize a set of circumstances in which an off planet living scenario would occur. Around those circumstances, it would be possible to speculate at some level about what humans might want to take with them, and what they would to leave behind.

What could go wrong?

Fantasizing an off-planet scenario reflects a level of consciousness of existential risks faced by humans on planet earth. Humans will have to find refuge in outer space when life on earth becomes impossible. A nuclear catastrophe is speculated to be one of the most likely events that could put life on earth at great risk. The great likelihood of the catastrophe, the problems with controllability of radioactive contamination, and the long-term effects on health and the environment are all factors that put nuclear technology at the top of next most probable global disasters.

Although a nuclear war between world powers is unlikely, there are other factors such as environmental disasters, terrorist attacks, and new geopolitical power realignments, which are raising the seriousness of nuclear technology as a threat.[1]

Radioactive substance leakage has been reported several times in the past caused by natural hazards. Nuclear plants are greatly venerable to seismic events just like the case of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, which was greatly effected by Tsunami. [3]

In our age of open knowledge sources, information can be easily acquired about nuclear plants locations and nuclear technology itself. The information needed to create a nuclear plant and weapons of mass destruction are available and accessible for anyone seeking them. Therefore, nuclear terrorism can take different forms. [4]

In addition, radioactive contamination can infect the environment through different channels. Air, soil, water, people, and animals can be contaminated by either by direct exposure to the contamination or by mere contact with substances that are contaminated. The contamination can spread through people and either externally or internally as an epidemic.[5]

The most problematic aspect of a nuclear disaster is its long-term activity. Nuclear technology has many long-term problems that are unresolved regarding the disposal of nuclear waste. More than 30 countries in the world according to the World Nuclear Association currently use nuclear energy. Plutonium used in the nuclear power industry, around one third of total nuclear power, has a half-life between 88 years to 82 million yours. [6] Storage of high-level radioactive waste is a hard since the storage has to be stable for thousands, if not millions of years.

In the event of a global nuclear disaster, the rapid rate and various channels in which contamination can spread into natural resources and living beings will leave no space on Earth for human livability and existence.

Where can we go next?

“Europa today, probably, is a habitable environment. We need to confirm this… but Europa, potentially, has all the ingredients for life … and not just four billion years ago… but today”.

- Robert T. Pappalardo

Humans will have to find refuge in outer space when life on earth becomes impossible. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, has been a subject for scientific interest for the search of extraterrestrial life. It also appeared in many works of science fiction as a destination for human colonization. Europa’s surface is mostly solid water, and has a very thin oxygen atmosphere. With abundant liquid water, and energy provided by tidal heating under its icy crust, Europa could potentially be the best place in the solar system to support life. [7]

However, this does not mean that Europa’s surface is suitable for human life. The external surface of the planet is predicted to be fatal. The surface receives fatal does of radiation a day, 4.5 Sieverts compared to 0.0014 Sieverts a day on earth at sea level. Europa’s oxygen atmosphere is so thin, and it surface pressure is barely one hundred billionth that of the Earth. Non-biological processes produce the oxygen in Europa’s atmosphere, which is different than oxygen on Earth which twenty five percent of it is produced biologically by living organisms. [8] In addition, Europa’s weather is extremely cold at the surface, with temperatures as low as −170 °C (-275°F). One more challenge is Europa’s gravity. It is only 0.134 of earth’s gravity, and this affect the human body like changes in bone density and muscle mass.

Regardless of the challenges on its surface, Europa’s 106 miles (170 Kilometers) deep icy crust can provide a better ecosystem for humans beneath it. The crust can provide a shield from radiation, and its depth can potentially make its ocean water much warmer than the surface.

Although there is no evidence for life on Europa, some scientists predict fish-like life forms in Europa’s ocean, and others predict bacterial life only. [9] This means that the ocean can potentially house nutrients and energy sources.

Europa is also interesting because it is speculated to act as conductor and storage of electricity. Like a battery, it is made of separate layers that are different chemically, and Jupiter’s magnetic field affecting its poles charges this giant battery. If we could figure out a way to harvest this energy, it can sustain us for a very long time. [10]

What are we taking with us?

“We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that “we choose death.”

— Barbara Ward

DNA

This might be an obvious answer, maintaining a library of DNA of all Earths living organism will have many benefits. Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, is the hereditary substance in almost all living organisms, and the building block of genes. DNA determines the way in which an organism is built and the manner in which it function, like an instruction book. A DNA library can function as an archive of bio life that existed on Earth to help reconstruct and repair losses. The archive can be a resource to aid genetic modification for better human adaption in new harsh environments, or to construct micro bio-ecosystems in which humans can dwell.

DNA can also be utilized for information storage and distribution. The information in DNA is stored as a code like a in a language of four chemical alphabets: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). DNA in humans alone contains around three billion bases. If scientists were able to encode all 154 of William Shakespeare’s sonnets on small segments of DNA [11], this means that human culture can be archived by a DNA language. An important property of DNA is that it can replicate, making copies of itself. When cells divide, each new cell has an exact copy of the DNA present in the old cell. Information written by DNA language can then be replicated for distribution or archiving. This biological process can become a back-up tool of human culture.

Photosynthesis

Probably the most elegant and unique product of planet Earth is photosynthesis. It is the process that keeps our biosphere in its current balance. Photosynthesis converts sunlight energy and water to nutrients and oxygen, which forms osne third of Earths oxygen. It also converts carbon dioxide (CO2) to organic material by reducing it to carbohydrates via complex set of reactions. Electrons for this process of reduction reaction come from water (H2O), which is converted to oxygen and protons. Energy is provided by sunlight, which is absorbed by pigments in organisms that carry out photosynthesis. The most common type of photosynthesis is the one conducted by higher plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria, and their relatives, are responsible for a major part of photosynthesis in oceans.

Photosynthesis as a process has a huge potential to be an asset in outer space. Photosynthesis in concept can help raise oxygen levels to support human life on Europa. Since the ingredients to jump-start the photosynthetic process is available, water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide. It can also provide clean energy. In addition, photosynthesis has shown to have applications in biotherapy and biomedical fields in which essential substances such as enzymes and pharmaceuticals can be produced.[12]

History

"Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory”.

- William H. McNeill

Memory is important for human behavior and action. Without memory individuals and collectives will fail to identify themselves, make decisions, and interact with others. Defect of collective memory is a result of loss of historic information, or ignorance of that information. Preserving the history of human race will provide one point of reference for the next human civilization dwelling in outer space. This unified point of reference will eliminate conflict and make decision making a more productive process. [13]

Are we going back?

Returning to earth post a global nuclear catastrophe seems to depend on two factors, the livability of the “new Earth” Europa, and the life of the radioactive contamination on Earth. Across history, colonization and immigration often result in non-return. If radioactive decay can range from 88 years to 89 billion years, it is predictable that humans would be well established in their new planet home, and after generations of living there, whether they would want to return can be difficult to predict.

[1] Oxford University. Global Catastrophic Risks. Ed. Nick Bostrom and Milan M. Cirkovic. 2008.

[2] The Gardian. Nuclear power stations and reactors operational around the world: listed and mapped. 2014 <http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/18/nuclear-reactors-power-stations-world-list-map>.

[3] BBC. Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant leaks radioactive water. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26254140>.

[4] Oxford University. Global Catastrophic Risks. Ed. Nick Bostrom and Milan M. Cirkovic. 2008.

[5] Center For Disease Control and Prevention. <http://www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/cri.asp>.

[6] World Nuclear Association. <http://world-nuclear.org/Nuclear-Basics/>.

[7] National Aeronautics and Space Administration. <http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Jup_Europa>.

[8] Hubble Site. Hubble Finds Oxygen Atmosphere on Jupiter’s Moon, Europa. 1995. <http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1995/12/text/>.

[9] Tate, Karl. Europa Report: Jupiter’s Icy Moon Explained (Infographic). 2013. <http://www.space.com/22207-jupiter-moon-europa-water-ocean-infographic.html>.

[10] National Aeronautics and Space Administration. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNAcBV6fQCc>.

[11] George, Anita. DNA-Encoded Sonnets Show New Possibilities in Data Storage. <http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/01/saving-shakespeares-sonnets-in-dna.html>.

[12]

Vermaas, Wim. An Introduction to Photosynthesis and Its Applications.<http://bioenergy.asu.edu/photosyn/education/photointro.html>.

[13] McNeill, William H. Why Study History? (1985). <http://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1985)>.

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