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Few doubt that machines will gradually surpass more and more of our distinctively
human capabilities – or enhance them via cyborg technology. Disagreements are
basically about the timescale – the rate of travel, not the direction of travel. The
cautious amongst us envisage timescales of centuries rather than decades before
humans are overtaken or transcended by electronic intelligence – far transcending the
chemical and metabolic limits of ‘wet’ organic brains. These entities will then persist,
continuing to evolve, for billions of years. Moreover, the timescales for technological
advance are but an instant compared to the slow timescales of the Darwinian
selection that led to humanity’s emergence – and (more relevantly) they are less than
a millionth of the vast expanses of cosmic time lying ahead.

But we humans shouldn’t feel too humbled. Even though we are surely not the
terminal branch of an evolutionary tree, we could be of special cosmic significance
for jump-starting the transition to inorganic (and potentially immortal) entities,
spreading their influence far beyond the Earth, and far transcending our limitations.

Moreover, a planetary environment may suit us ‘organics’ – but interplanetary and
interstellar space may be the preferred arena where robotic fabricators will have the
grandest scope for construction, and where non-biological ‘brains’ may develop
powers than humans can’t even imagine.

And they could spread through the cosmos – interstellar travel isn’t daunting to near-
immortal beings.

Is there life out there already? Or is the Galaxy waiting for our progeny? We know
there’s nowhere in our solar system that harbours advanced life. However there may
be freeze-dried bacteria on Mars.
There may be creatures swimming under the Ice on Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
But let’s widen our horizons to the realm of the stars.

The prime subject-matter of the Carl Sagan Institute would have enthralled Carl.
We’ve learnt that most stars in the sky are orbited by retinues of planets, like the
Sun is . But the evidence is mainly indirect; we don’t observe the planet, but detect its
influence on the motion or brightness of the star it’s orbiting

The Carl Sagan Institute is specially interested in possible 'twins' of our Earth --
planets the same size as ours, on orbits with temperatures such that water neither
boils nor stays frozen.

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