Have a joyful and good day everyone!
In connection with the active discussion of previous thoughts and in response to numerous (three) requests, it was decided to write answers to the questions. Of course, it makes sense to discuss proposals for colonization, speculation about the future of celestial engines and options for seeing the future from our readers, and much of what was voiced in the comments. In addition, the errors and inaccuracies I made in my reasoning should be corrected. In my reasoning, I in no way pretend to be the ultimate truth, so the letters and comments you send are very helpful in assessing both your own strengths and general interest in the topic, thank you!
“It’s time to apologize and ask for forgiveness”
A user with the eloquent nickname Kip Thorne noticed a mistake – scientists were really able to create confidently replicating RNA with a changing genome. Another thing is that the truly “Eigen threshold” (the threshold of permissible error during replication, which allows us to unequivocally state that replication will be stable and the cumulative effect of errors will not be fatal) was overcome only recently. Yes, in March 2024, a group of American researchers led by Gerald Joyce reported about laboratory overcoming the “Eigen threshold”, Alexander Markov wrote to us about this in the same “Trinity version”. However, I was inattentive and based my thoughts on an article from 2007, which, to put it mildly, is outdated.
The author understood, but used the wrong wording and even illustration in relation to the paradox, thereby misleading the readers. I am correcting myself: in fact, there is no paradox, there is a thought experiment with the help of which they are trying to prove the inconsistency of SRT.
To be fair, I gave the correct formulation directly in the first part of the article: “Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity (STR) in the part that is especially painful for space travel – the faster you move relative to the point of rest (in our case this is the Earth, since it moves by inertia), the slower your clock moves relative to time on Earth. In my opinion, the best explanation of SRT, equipped with visualization with light cats, is presented by the author “Habra“Dmitry Dudarev.”
Answers to questions for the first part
I will not undertake to prove the theory of the origin of the World Ocean. However, today there are more than serious researchconvincingly proving both the presence and ancient origin of the current World Ocean. In general, there is a sad joke connected with water – the one that flows from our taps, has seen dinosaurs and even nursed the first RNAs in its ecumene, but if it had memory, how much simpler it would be…
As for the matrix, this question was well answered by Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Alexey Semikhatov: “If we say that we are all a simulation, then I don’t like this idea; in order to simulate the universe, you need at least one more universe.” It is clear that this argument does not in any way convince supporters of the flat Earth theory or the theory of falsification of expeditions to the Moon, but as long as physical laws are in effect in our reality, very serious “video cards” are needed to maintain such a simulation. It is more profitable to mine the universal “buzcoin” with them than to maintain the physics of reality in the middle of nowhere, where we can only look, but make sure that everything works in the usual manner. In my opinion, the main evidence that we do not all live in the matrix is the fact that the world in which we live can be collect an endless amount of data: “Here, of course, it immediately comes to mind that there is so much that is still unknown, and the more we know, the more, it turns out, remains to be known… This is true, but an endless amount of information about our world can be found and in much more familiar “things”. These are the numbers “Pi” and “Exponent”. As you know, these numbers reflect the properties of our world and at the same time are irrational, i.e. they have an infinite number of decimal places, which are not ordered in any way and are not repeated according to any algorithm, which means that the recording of their “exact” value contains an infinity of information.”
Partially answered Dmitry in the comments, but I would like to comment on the issue of creating a settlement on the Moon.
In my opinion, the current civilization has such an opportunity, at least in the form of a base visited on a rotational basis. It is important to understand here that a settlement and a lunar base are fundamentally different phenomena in terms of complexity. The base can be pulled by the current hegemon, China, and Russia. Here, the more important questions are political and economic feasibility – what to do there and how profitable is it? All current lunar landing projects are, in one way or another, related to the search for water, that is, ice. If they find an affordable one and a lot of it, then interest will grow many times over, and, consequently, project funding will also increase. Because from water you can get cheap energy and many other useful things. But even in this case, the expedition and the placement of the base will become a project for several decades only during the flight phase. It is possible that such projects are already in the high profile offices of space powers, but their time has not come yet.
Paleocontact is a cool thing. There’s just one problem – there is absolutely no substantiated scientific evidence of the presence of alien material culture. Provided, of course, that we trust official science. I prefer to trust her, since the conspiracy of scientists around the world is an incomparably more complex thing than the conspiracy of the Lunar Program (which is impossible for the same reason) – someone is bound to let it slip. At the same time, it is theoretically possible to allow for paleo-observation or even some kind of careful paleo-progression with the removal of broken pepelats. But there is no evidence, and there is no trial, that is, this theory can be neglected for the lack of useful meaning. If they find it, we’ll discuss it.
Answers to questions for the second part
On the contrary, if you read the arguments of Boris Stern, you will find that they allow precisely the technological possibility of interstellar travel. Yes, a very short flight by galactic standards, but a flight. Moreover, even the possibilities of the near future in the form transport and energy module “Zeus” with a nuclear engine or analogues from competing companies indicate that with a strong desire and without haste, you can puff away anywhere, at least within the solar system. By the way, the good thing about Stern’s proposal is that he is not chasing speed, but is determined to play for the long haul – this is a game that a nuclear locomotive can handle. Research on solar energy as propulsion too are in full swingI think she will submit to us too. A nuclear engine and a solar sail are the pair of bays that will be the workhorses of near space for a very long time, if not always.
As for humanity’s reserve of time, here I am more optimistic; it seems to me that civilization has long crossed the dangerous threshold of the possibility of degradation. I believe that, apart from mutual nuclear destruction, there are no other ways to debunk the crown of creation. In any case, Alexander, if you are ready to share information about the danger, I will be very glad.
Smart and dexterous robot colonists are nevertheless a good idea, and they will definitely not be anthropomorphs. I’m sure no one will fly anywhere without them. Neither to the Moon, nor to Tau Ceti. Moreover, the robots will be the first to fly, and they will be the ones who will experience all the hardships of new impressions. There is only one problem – they are not people, but we would like to resettle people, become creators of life (according to the leitmotif of Stern’s idea)…
As for artificial evolution, there is a completely dark forest and a big ethical fence, so I don’t dare to speculate, but I will cautiously assume that this is possible, and besides, it is necessary!
Clones with consciousness, cyborgs with a human brain and consciousness are a very difficult thing, because in order to do this, first of all it is necessary to digitize the brain.
In 2024, researchers at Harvard University and Google will for the first time digitized one cubic millimeter of cerebral cortex. Atlas (you can see a 3D map) contains approximately 57 thousand cells, which are interconnected by 150 million synapses, and its volume occupies 1.4 petabytes of data – more than 700 hard drives with a capacity of 2 terabytes.
To make it clear, they just made a lot of 1 mm photos3 cerebral cortex. It’s as if I took detailed photographs of the Istanbul metro and, from these photographs, figured out how life works in all its manifestations on the entire planet – there is still a lot of work.
In addition, it would be nice to understand what consciousness is before transferring it…
In my opinion, structures moving in a vacuum, designed to last a thousand years, are much closer to the present than transplanting a brain into an armored jar with legs, but yes, one can debate.
It seems to me that there is no anthropocentrism here, but there is curiosity and challenges that once motivated Magellan and Columbus, and now motivate Konyukhov and the same Stern. I think this is what helped humanity become the top of the food chain on Earth, and someday will help us explore the solar system. Well, the fact that a person needs this, and not the robot Fyodor or a dolphin and a chimpanzee, is not a person’s fault.
But this is the most correct and important question.
Will the time come when humanity will reach such a level of social consciousness and altruism that, united in a single impulse, they will invest in an epic of fantastic complexity that does not promise any profit other than awareness of its own importance?
In my opinion, a lot depends on the planning horizon. In current states it is measured in tens of years. It is possible that the states of the future will number in the hundreds. As soon as this happens, know: our dream may have soil, and it is from here that it can begin its great march into the heavens.
Colophon
Dear readers!
In my opinion, we have done very interesting and great work. To some it seemed unnecessary, to others meaningless, and to others just text for the sake of text. But I truly enjoyed both reading about the SETI project and Lutskian Samosatsky (I was corrected that the “k” is correct, since he is still closer to Greece than Rome), and wading through the machine translation of works on the intricacies of the origin of life and reading Stern’s wonderful novel. And the feedback from some of you prompted me to write the very last (honestly) part. We will no longer bother Boris Stern and his great idea.
In an attempt to gallop through everything at once, I realized that I would not be able to fully reveal even a fifth of the discussions in the comments. In addition, some questions and comments started a discussion that developed without my participation, in which answers were found that satisfied the reasoners. I propose to use the comments to this article as a collective way to share opinions about all parts of our Space Odyssey. I’ll try to answer everyone!
P.S. Due to the fact that the topic of fantastic modes of transportation has not been considered, I propose to determine in the comments whether it is worth making a separate material for it.
Thank you for your attention!
Source: mobile-review.com
