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From: REM%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: The Nature of Paradigm Shifts --> space-based evolution
Message-ID: <15012@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Jan-84 23:42:00 EST
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.15012
Posted: Mon Jan  2 23:42:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Jan-84 01:37:18 EST
Lines: 44

From:  Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC>

    Date: 2 January 1984 15:34 EST
    From: Herb Lin <LIN @ MIT-ML>
    on survival, i think that the odds are essentially zero that we will
    contribute to the genetic pool in 10^11 years, regardless of nuclear
    war, because I don't believe that interstellar space travel will ever
    be possible.
I disagree. Already we have achieved petri-dish fertilization, and
soon may have petri-bowl pregnancy. Assuming we establish a permanent
habitat in space, we'll have time to study the way cells work to where
we can generate a living cell from nothing but the DNA (being sure to
include all the symbiots of course: nuclear DNA, mitochondrial DNA,
centrole DNA, and any other symbiots or escapees that may be hiding in
the cell) and some chemicals. At that point, very small spaceprobes
can deliver all the DNA of all the creatures from Earth to spots
lightyears away by sending only the encoding of all the DNA and a
machine to bootstrap a chemical factory, then recreating the DNA and
the cells and the lifeforms in the new location. Of course the
encoding of life can withstand higher accelerations and random jarring
than the life itself could, and no life-support would be needed any
time along the voyage, so cruder transportation means could be used
such as pulsed Earth-based lasers or hydrogen-fusion explosions. By
sending out lots of these tiny probes to lots of spots in the
universe, travelling at relativistic speeds, we may be able to spread
our genetic material throughout the universe in a rather short time,
as an alternative to spreading computers/androids throughout the
universe, if we should so choose.

Of course after this initial seeding, evolution will occur everywhere
and 1E11 years hence much of our genetic material will have been
replaced by better (more survivable) genetic material, leaving only a
small amount of our original stuff in its present form. But there will
be many more chances for our stuff to mix with the new genes and find
favorable combinations, so here and there one of our genes may
actually survive, and other places some other genes may survive, and
even if computers take over most of the universe by then, infestations
of biological life will remain around and about, and some significant
percentage of our current gene pool may actually be around in various
nooks and crannies even then.

On the other hand, if we stay here and just send robots out there,
virtually all of our current genes will be EXTINCT in 1E11 years as
you suggest.