The Quest for Immortality and its Influence on the Development of a Future Interplanetary Civilisation

Abstract

There will come a time when humans will be able to control the ageing process and perhaps even prevent death. Through genetic engineering and CRISPR technology, developments are afoot to eventually allow humanity to achieve the seemingly impossible, immortality. Multiple future pathways are feasible to achieve this pursuit, including those based on AI, man-machine interfacing, brain implantation, partial cloning and transplant procedures, the human connectome project, and soul/consciousness quantum storage and processing systems. As technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, and humanity expands into the cosmos, the progression of these projects will induce significant changes to human functioning and human civilisation. The impossible will become a daily reality. This will potentially create new opportunities for individual growth and development, financial incentivization and investment, social programs to improve public services and education, and fantastical ways in which personal relationships will be developed and maintained. However, ethical concerns will preside over new forms of crime, known as consciousness crimes. New forms of law enforcement and social regulation will be essential to stem the tide of social discordance and potential implosion. Instances of mental illness will dramatically increase, placing further strain on pandemic stricken global health services. There are three viable eventualities that will transpire in reference to these current and prospective developments. Firstly, life extension methods through the genetic manipulation of telomerase will unleash a mutated cancer pandemic upon the world (and/or worlds), which will intensify pre-existing deleterious environmental and socio-economic processes that are potentially leading to human extinction. Secondly, initial social issues will be remedied, and an immortal future version of humanity fuelled by renewable energy technology will develop, eventually reaching a state of enhanced consciousness that will facilitate a peaceful, cooperative interplanetary society. Thirdly, this second scenario will be partially actualised, yet immortality will not render humanity immune to its animalistic competitiveness and violent proclivities, leading to a warring galactic civilisation. Immortality will force humanity to develop an interplanetary presence, where it will become the cosmic equivalent of a plague of locusts or a force of technological and existential progress. However, due to the complex ambivalence of human nature, it is highly likely both these eventualities will transpire, creating a fragile and potentially catastrophic psycho-social equilibrium that could prove disastrous for potentially extant life throughout the galaxy.