Off Topic: Light Speed Travel

Marathon Public Library

Excuse me for an occasional off topic posting.

We know for a fact that our descendants will eventually have to leave Earth in order to survive. If none of the other gloom and doom scenarios prove true, the absolute deadline is about 1 billion years from now when the sun runs out of hydrogen fuel and expands into a red giant engulfing the Earth. That's not speculation, that's a fact.

So how do we arrange for an interstellar immigration?

Einstein's assertion that nothing can travel faster than light in a vacuum so far seems insurmountable. The closest star is four light years away and the other side of the galaxy is 100,000 light years away. If we only travel at a fraction of light speed, space travel will take far too long to attract investors, public or private.

Worse, radiation in space is so strong as to be lethal in a very short time. Practical ways of shielding space travelers from radiation do not suggest themselves.

I think that the answer lies in the true nation of evolution. Those who characterize Darwin's On The Origin Of Species get it wrong. It is not survival of the fittest species, but rather survival of the DNA that counts. Perpetuation of a species is only one way that a DNA sequence can survive and evolve.

With that in mind, I propose a project to broadcast the DNA sequence for the human genome into space. We should broadcast it in all directions. Accompanying the data, we must send some kind of message that might convince an intelligent recipient to create specimens of the human race using the DNA data. Obviously, the persuasiveness of the message is the key to success. We need to find a way to persuade, or trick the message recipients into using the data to create specimen homo sapiens. Therefore, I propose that the broadcast project be staffed, not by scientists, but by spam artists.

That's right, I propose that we spam our way to dominance of the galaxy and that we do it at light speed. Given 40,000 years plus change and our conquest will be complete.