Chapter 9

Sean Chang, iNews
3/5/62

The idea of life around different stars has captured and inspired the imagination of people since it became known that those twinkling lights in the sky were suns, much like our own, instead of lights in the firmament.  These thoughts were confined to the imagination, despite the many claims of extra-terrestrials visiting our planets, until the 1960's when technology reached a point at which we could realistically start a search.  Starting with single astronomers and developing into governmental funded projects, first in the Soviet Union and then in the United States, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) began in earnest.

These efforts concentrated on the study of electromagnetic radiation, the range of radiation from microwaves to gamma rays.  It was assumed that the best chance for finding alien life was the assumption that an advanced civilization would have developed radio, and television, and satellites which all broadcast electromagnetic radiation.  Of course, stars and other astronomical phenomena also broadcast in the electromagnetic spectrum, how would we tell the difference?  The answer is in the same way that we can tell the difference between language and the sounds of nature, a complicated structure that does not appear in nature.  Perhaps other civilizations are also looking for us, broadcasting signals that they hope we will notice.

We have been listening to the skies for a hundred years now, and are still to hear anything from intelligent neighbors.  During this time we have looked for these patterns in signals from about 15,000 stars.  While this is a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy the sense of futility inevitably grows.  Are we alone?  Many of us have an impending sense of doom, as if humanity is on the brink of obliteration.  While this is nothing new, people have been predicting the imminent destruction of humanity for thousands of years, there are new worries and concerns.  Perhaps a super-virus will remove us from existence.  Perhaps the changing climate is beyond our control and the Earth will become a red hot or icy ball spinning in the void, empty and lifeless.

New developments in technology can remove this fear, says NASA astronomer Ahmed Levi, in his new book, Dark Life.  In this short and accessible work he puts forward a radical new idea, that upon reaching the level of technology able to use radio and other wireless communication there is a rapid movement that transforms life.  Life ceases to be biological and becomes something of silicon and electricity, life within the machine.  Levi claims not to base these ideas on flights of fancy but on hard science and technology almost within our grasp.

It is but thirteen years since Dr. Hsia mapped his brain within a computer, says Dr. Levi.  Follow up experiments over the last decade have confirmed, as much as it is possible to confirm consciousness in the brains of anyone else, that this, "mapped brain is conscious, aware, and functions as does the organic brain," but without any obvious sign of the inevitable risks and ravages of exterior life and aging.  While the disturbing results of early experiments on a conscious brain almost devoid of exterior input resulted in the rapid halt to these experiments, even without the widespread objections to scientists "playing God" and creating "soulless beings", new developments have recently occurred.

The difference between the artificial reality of gaming, claims Dr. Levi, and the reality we experience in our day-to-day lives has been narrowing over the last few decades.  While such troubling concerns as the "graying" of non-gaming experience and the health risks of "ultra-deep gaming addiction" are no doubt real, there are many serious scientists who have stated the opinion that there is no longer any substantive difference between the artificial experience of gaming, and the real experience of the exterior world.  In fact, the very problems mentioned above suggest that to those deep within the gaming culture the artificial experience is somehow more real than reality.

This suggestion was put to the test but eighteen months ago when the artificial brain of Dr. Hsia was connected directly to what is considered the most complete and immersive game at this time Land of the Gods and the results examined and compared to the flesh and blood brain of Dr. Hsia playing the same game.  Not only did the artificial brain show all the signs of a total and complete experience, even thanking researchers for the experience, but the actual decisions within game play were almost identical between the two minds.  To all those involved the conclusion, which Dr. Levi suggests is inescapable, is that artificial minds are as real as biological minds, yet free from the risk of death our bodies face every day.  After all, death in a game is but temporarily, and like Lazarus we can rise again from death.

How is this relevant to our search for extra-terrestrial intelligence?  Dr. Levi says the answer is simple.  For an intelligent life to evolve it must have a drive to live and a drive to experience new and wondrous things.  Given the possibility of a real experience, with constant variety unrestrained by the physical laws of the universe, lasting for thousands upon thousands of years, what intelligent life-form would not take that opportunity.  Dr. Levi convincingly makes the case that intelligent life forms make the transition from radio to computer existence within two centuries.  To preserve this new existence these life-forms wish to flee from the dangers of the solar system and those who might visit and immerse themselves in dark, silent ships, such as hollowed asteroids.  Launching themselves into the emptiness of interstellar space they live almost eternal lives in heavens of their own devising.

Dr. Levi maintains that the probability of intelligent life is too high to have not come into being, but it "hides within darkened rocks, in the infinite dark of space."  Hence the title of his book, Dark Life.

The final chapter provides the fascinating prediction that a nuclear fusion fueled asteroid of the sort described within the book, powering a vast computer, will be built before the end of the century, sending out a new version of humanity to exist in new ways out beyond the stars.  Furthermore, he predicts that within a couple of centuries after this initial launch, this will constitute the life of all humanity.