stardustcboy's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FUTURE OF HUMANKIND PART II: QUANTUM BEINGS hmmm...let's see...where was i? ah yes... THE FUTURE OF HUMANKIND PART II: QUANTUM BEINGS carl sagan once wrote that there are three types of possible/theoretical civilizations in the known universe. TYPE I: this civilization has harnessed the power of the atom but remains terrestrially bound. they express a high level of sentience and intelligence. TYPE II: this type of civilization has harnessed the power of a sun. with this power, interstellar travel is not beyond them, though they may be limited to within just a few light years of home (perhaps even intrasolar). highly advanced intelligence with tools/weapons capable of altering entire planets and perhaps even solar systems. TYPE III: this civilization has harness the power of an entire galaxy. the principles of time/space and matter are within their control. this type of being would be capable of creating worlds, even suns and likewise destroying them. according to sagan each type of civilization gives rise to the next, so from type I to type II and on to type III. though he does admit that the odds of evolution for such beings drops with each stage. so the likelyhood of any given sentient being to rise from primitive states to type I civilizations is like 1:1,000,000,000; and from type I to type II is 1:1,000,000,000,000,000 (1 quadrillion); and finally from type II to type III 1:1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 septillion - or some crazy intergalactic odds like that). the reason for these staggering odds is that as each civilization gives rise to the next, the amount of power they begin to weild is staggering. right now, earth is a type I civilization and look at the amount of devestation we can wreak with the technologies derived from the simple manipulation of the atom. imagine what we would do if we could harness the power of the sun...or even an entire galaxy? it's mind-boggling really. however, i have faith in mankind in the long term. as i've said before, we have three things going for us; A) - we're creative; B) - we're tenacious; C) - we're prolific. taking these three traits into consideration it's no doubt that we may just still find ourselves wandering this little planet in the far future, and even the stars... i'd imagine that once a civilization reaches type III stage it is no longer bound by the conventional laws of physics (the laws we know still have many gaps and are really just the laws from our point of view - which is terrestrially biased). type III civilizations would probably be beings of pure energy capable of traveling great distances at a whim and the ability to alter the very fabric of time/space with mere focus of will. in the previous essay, i spoke of the man/machine interface. i think that this is an integral part of our evolution. the man/machine era will be the greatest era in human history. it will reveal much in the great scheme of the cosmos and our little niche therein. when our understanding of the basic building blocks of life broadens, so too will our understanding of existence. the man/machine era will expand our consciousness' to a level beyond just the terrestrial, as it will challenge our perceptions of ourselves, of life, and of the cosmos. the man/machine era will be our rise to a type II civilization. we will rise from bonds of this small world to our nearby neighbors. and our ever-increasing curiosity will lead us even farther from home. beyond the moons and planets to the outer rim and beyond. we will become quantum beings, beings of pure energy, a type III civilization. i can't even begin to fathom our culture and sociology at this point in time. we will be wholly alien to ourselves now. the power we will have will be astounding, but so too will the wisdom. i'd imagine that type III beings have visited this little planet in the past, and perhaps they are the gods/demons/angels of legend. beings capable of incredible feats of will. transformation, transmutation and transubstatiation are all part of the portfolio of these types of beings (in other words shape-shifting, the altering of matter/energy, and teleportation/projection). one day we may just achieve this same level of power. i'd imagine at this point we'd wander the universe in small groups, perhaps even individually, meeting only once every million years or so to share our findings and reproduce(???). perhaps we'll join with some massive intergalactic councilate of other similar beings, who knows? the idea is that quantum beings are capable of manipulating the very fabric of time/space with thought. their understanding of the laws that bind everything together are incomprehensible and astounding. they can move unseen and undetected as a wavelength of energy or a force; or if they so desire they can manifest themselves physically in some way or another. this stage of our developement is far, far from now. perhaps thousands of years in the future. i may live to see the dawn of the man/machine era; but most likely will die before that. however, the theory is that we already are quantum beings, just very, very, very young ones. perhaps there is some massive cosmic ecosystem that cannot be seen from the perspective of a mere planetary culture? perhaps it is the destiny of all sentient lifeforms to return to the wellsprig from whence they came? consider this... an ancient alien order of cosmic power is responsible for the seeding of the universe of sentient life. their sole intent is to create more beings like themselves on planets throughout the universe. they do this by destroying stars. when the star goes nova the gasses and dust flung out to the far reaches of space are composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sugar compounds and other elements. in the cold vaccuum of space these elements combine and coalesce to form comets and other cosmic floatsom and jetsom. in the heart of these interstellar "sperm" lie the fundamental building blocks of life, all they need is a spark and a nice warm place to thrive...say...a small planet, comprised mainly of water, within a certain distance of the sun. in all directions this debris flies from the center of the exploding sun. some of these comets and such will impact planetary bodies sometime (it's another one of these crazy cosmic ratios - like 1:1 to the 100). though it's no gaurantee that the planets/objects they strike will be within the desired range. some comets may strike planets too cold, or too hot allowing life to thrive only limitedly in some microbiological form. but, every once in a great, great, great while they hit the mark and after trillions of years little hairy monkey-like beings begin to thrive and evolve. eventually, these primitives begin to use tools and other such things and over time harness the atom...then the sun...finally to meet with those that started it all and help them to continue the cycle. that would be crazy. if the sole purpose of sentient life is to eventually create more sentient life elsewhere utilizing the fundamental principles of the universe. go to some far-off nebula where stars are born, blow one of those stars up and count on the fact that somewhere, sometime, life will be the end result. perhaps they have a catalogue of all the planets that have managed to be "cultured" properly, ours included. perhaps they are astonished by the strange fact that the inhabitants of most of those planets still develope along the same lines, like some sort of cosmic evolutionary "rule-of-thumb". who knows? maybe it's all just a crap-shoot with no real rhyme or reason. imagine discovering a small planet far-off that supports a small civilization. imagine going to that planet and finding that, oddly enough, they developed a lot like ourselves. they have very similar physiological/morphological characteristics. such is chaos, eh? far in the future we are due to find out, and either way it will be profound indeed. ~B-) 1:43 p.m. - 2003-03-25 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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