Seeding the galaxy, Using nanotech to colonise the stars

I have been thinking about the possibility of colonising the galaxy. I am personally rather sceptical about FTL, so I am not considering this as an option. We could build a generation ship, but this would be extremely expensive and take a very long time to build. There is a better thread for the FTL/generation ship discussion here.

The possibilities for space exploration offered by future developments in nanotechnology are huge. This proposal assumes that we are able to develop advanced nanotechnology, but fail to develop a FTL drive.

I propose that, using nanotech, we develop a seed containing as much information as we can fit that we deem worthwhile and build a space probe around this seed. The information contained should include enough genetic information to recreate an entire ecosystem. This genetic information can be frozen DNA and/or digital.

The seed would have the following components:

• AI - this would need to be a very robust system, as it would probably need to be self operating for several centuries.
• ecosystem genetic seed - DNA information to recreate an entire Earth ecosystem. It could be as detailed as every known plant, animal, fungi, bacteria, etc; or it could be a simplified ecosystem with the bare minimum number of species. Either way, it would need to include enough genetic diversity in each species for it to be viable.
• human genetic seed - since it will be built by us, we get some preferential treatment. It could include genetic material "banked" by anyone we wanted. It should certainly include enough for an isolated colony to survive without becoming dangerously inbred.
• information seed - the total of human knowledge, or at least all that we are willing or able to provide. It could include a download of the entire internet; or all literary works; or it could include all our scientific knowledge.
• sensor package - it is a spaceship, so it needs to know as much as possible about where it is headed. It may need to decide to change its destination while en-route, if it discovers something wrong with its current destination.
• industrial package - everything required to mine resources from asteroids, comets, moons or a destination planet. It will also include the ability to produce any tools, probes, or anything else required. It would use mined resources to eventually build gestation chambers to start recreating the ecosystem. It would also produce the equipment required to terraform a target planet.
• drive - this could be a long-life, but relatively low power ion drive, probably with a nuclear power plant; it could be a solar sail; or it could be as advanced as an antimatter drive giving a fairly short, but very high acceleration.

The idea is to select one or more destination stars that might be capable of supporting terrestrial life and send a seed to each. The seed would be completely self sufficient. It must be able to make decisions for itself and be able to utilise whatever resources it can find. The mission time would probably be several decades but could stretch into centuries.
The main idea is to keep the vessel for this seed as small as possible, si it would not be possible to include a human pilot or crew on such a vessel. AI control is a must. It would need a very advanced AI to make all the complex decisions involved. It would also need to be a very long-lived AI and be able to survive a high radiation environment, so multiple redundancies and probably self-repair would be needed.
I suspect that terraforming a planet could take centuries. As the planet became more suitable for terrestrial life, different species could be added to the ecosystem. The AI would effectively be a god, it would also be the parent and teacher for the young humans when they are eventually gestated and born.

There are some disadvantages to this method of space colonisation:

• no human crew, may be difficult to sell the idea to governments
• it could take centuries to reach a target system
• relies on the ability of an AI to make significant decisions
• we may not be able to program an AI to cope with every possible scenario
• capture of one of these seeds by aliens would give them information that could be used against us
• involves creating an extremely advanced AI with potential ability to reproduce itself

There are some advantages to this method of space colonisation:

• it will be much smaller and cheaper to build than a generation ship
• multiple copies can be made and sent to different stars
• no human crew means that the time-frame of the mission is not important
• long timescale makes terraforming a target plant a viable option
• can be designed for very high acceleration
• can be designed to withstand high radiation

Note: I got the idea for this from the Peter F. Hamilton book The Nano Flower. Though the seed in the book was a bacteria-sized alien spore that drifted through space, but contained a whole ecosystem of genetic information.

To aid keeping this thread on-topic, here are the thread's basic assumptions:

• we can develop nanotechnology assemblers, debate this here
• we can develop artificial intelligence, debate this here
• faster than light travel is not possible, debate this here
• aliens have not visited the Earth, debate this here
• this is not a discussion on religion, creationism, evolution or God, debate this here

For some of the concepts, in particular molecular assemblers, read the ebook of Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler.
Thanks to kjw for providing the link.

hello N O M, it certainly does seem a viable option, since our pesky biological baggage does hinder the idea of actual humans traveling the distances and time scales of the universe.

for me the most interesting part of this is the function of the AI and the protection protocols that prevent the AI from perverting its "mission"

does AI have consciousness and if so should humans have the right to enslave this consciousness, has long been in my thoughts.

i have not been aware of Engines of Creation by Eric Drexler prior to your post. so i need some time to read it and i am sure more detailed discussions will occur in due course.

There is a simplified option for this seed. Rather than include genetic information for whole ecosystems or even humans, it could just have the most basic forms of life. Those that are expected to be able to survive on a Proto-Earth. This seed would purely be propagating life. This life could be left to its own devices. A simplified seed like this would not require an advanced AI, or even much in the way of nanotech. We are capable of making one of these already.
The real question is should we do this?

The article How did life on Earth originate? suggests that life may have been first brought to Earth on meteorites. This simple scenario could allow us to do this in a controlled manner, guaranteeing that viable life arrived at planets capable of supporting it.

i would say yes.

life is too much of a wonder to allow it to be self extinguishing because of limited resources here on earth or other means of mass extinction ie asteroid, supernova, self causing etc

life is too much of a wonder to leave it up to chance that somewhere else in the universe life has begun.

if we are to use our consciousness to anywhere near what I consider its full potential, I believe we are almost obligated to perpetuate life in terms of "getting off this rock"

I am not limiting this by saying that the consciousness we humans have needs to be perpetuated, but rather the building blocks that allowed our consciousness to develop should certainly be "preserved in action" and not laid to waste by a rouge comet

NOM,

Interstellar probes will likely be launched in the near future (within next 30 years);
the 1st generation may have nuclear powered drives as mentioned; however with exponetially evolving AI, it is not inconceivable that one day, machine intellect way beyond our capacity to think will devise means for us to move between the stars more effectively; I think most similar to Earth like planets would contain life and there'd be millions of these just in our own Galaxy; We'd just need to find a vacant lot out there somewhere, that aside, perhaps we'll be required to terraform something less ideal.

All in all, the next 30-50 years will be most interesting and I sincerely hope to witness a lot of it.

This post has been edited by fivedoughnut on Apr 4 2007, 03:46 AM

kjw, I agree.

But there are significant risks. What if life already exists on a planet we intend seeding? From Earth, we might be able to tell if a potential planet is present, but I doubt we would ever be certain that no life is present on sending such a mission.

An AI would probably find life on a lush planet, like ours is now. But what if life had only recently developed on the planet? What if the life was so different that it was difficult to tell that it was alive? What if it was only at the bottom of the oceans?

I think it would be a heinous crime to destroy even primitive life on another planet. Any mission to seed Earth life must have the foundation of preserving all life or we risk commiting genocide.

The seeding mission should have an AI capable of analysing target planets. It should spend a significant amount of time doing this analysis. It could of course be mining asteroids and comets while it is doing this, so it is ready to terraform and seed the planet once the decision is made.
If it did determine that alien life was present, it should be able to abandon the primary mission and begin its secondary mission - to study the alien life. Most resources would then go into creating probes to study this life. Maybe the AI could then create a copy to remain and study the planet, then refuel the mission spaceship and continue to another star.

This post has been edited by N O M on Apr 4 2007, 03:54 AM

5D, It wouldn't matter how ideal a target planet was, it would require some terraforming.
The only way that an Earth-like planet would have a breatheable atmosphere, is if life were already present. There should indeed be millions of good candidate planets out there. Hopefully some are reachable.

I started this thread to consider an alternative to the galactic colonisation.
It is not mutually exclusive with human-crewed spacecraft. But I think it would be cheaper and easier to build and be able to seed many more planets with Earth life.

What is your IA going to do when it finds that there are trobaly more than 23 amino acid buiding blocks possible and abundant in seemingly lushious vegitation covered planets fit for life but not as we know it?

In this case, the secondary mission would be activated. The AI would build satellites and probes to study this life.

As I stated earlier. The AI should spend a significant amount of time studying a target planet before doing anything that could disturb any local life. There is no reason why this study shouldn't take several decades.

Every effort should go into ensuring that the AI is capable of very complex analysis and decision making. It should err on the side of caution, so where there is any doubt at all the primary mission (terraforming and colonising) should be cancelled.

The Earth ecosystem seed I am proposing in this thread is intended to duplicate Earth life on lifeless planets. It isn't about colonising planets that already have their own unique life.

Your question actually highlights one of the biggest flaws in the generation ship concept. What would the crew of a generation ship do once they have arrived at a new star, only to find that the only suitable planets are already teeming with alien life? Do they colonise these planets? The decision to colonise may be complicated by the fact that the generation ship is out of fuel and running low on resources. How much local life is it acceptable to genocide during this colonisation?

Dear Mr. NOM type person.

I feel after examining your apparent parochial views,. on what you think is out there, it might be better if you would seed life in a pet shop, rather than attempt to do this in space.

Frist over, I feel by very cursory information, that even a brain challenged person could understand, the government already has in some instances, made it seems secret knowledge about supposed said space entities.

So your trying to seed life out there, might sick all of the space beings after us all here on Earth?

Two, your logic is similar to a mythical Borgs knowledge in regarding any said supposed life form out there.

So this action of yours, would set you up as a despot, rather than a beneficial explorer.

Again, you'd get us all in trouble.

A pet shop is finite.Can be sealed off and the damage can be kept at a minimum.

You can insert all the probes into the buts of lovely store personnel in this pet shop, instead of poor Philip 348."God knows how much like a Christmas tree Philip would look like after you get done wiring him up with all of those probes"!!?

And the benefit from seeding a pt shop with nanoprobes might be, small puppies that can drill through steel, with their noses; so the seeding experiment would not be a total loss.

I have to add caution on probing the working personnel there, as when these young fillies go out on their Saturday night dates, they might all give their boyfriends the nanoclap.

We think it better for you to seed a pet shop, rather than outerspace.

If you get turned loose in outrerspace, we might not only have alkida after us, but flocks of aliens as well?

Ta ta, hope you liked out suggestions.

I think any relocation or colonization should be limited to lifeless bodies such as moons located in orbits where there is ample solar exposure for energy and habitable temperature ranges. The sterility of a moon offers shelter from infectious organisms and weather systems, not to mention hostile higher life forms.

The only value I see in this seeding endeavor would be as insurance against extinction events on earth before humans have a chance transform into a less vulnerable life form that isn't dependent on ideal planetary environments to survive.

philip, your posting style is too obvious for you to hide behind a sock-puppet.

There is an idea from the book Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton, where a race of ancient artificial nanotech creatures live on the surface of red giant stars. These creatures produce eggs which they fire out of the star's gravity well using massive rail-guns. The eggs are designed to eventually end up in orbit around young stars and "hatch" once these stars turn into red giants. These eggs were fired pretty much at random, so there would have to be very many for even a few to have a chance to hatch.

The small spacecraft I am proposing could be designed to be fired from a rail-gun. This would certainly cut down on its size and final cost. It would of course need to be able to steer and slow down once it reached its destination. I think we could be able to achieve enough accuracy to fire a spacecraft and have a good chance of reaching the correct star.

This proposal does assume that we have some level of nanotechnology, AI and robotics. This will allow us to use resources in space to build this massive rail-gun.

soultech,

Hey, no prob .... Earth plants synthesize all their amino acids from scratch; therefore, just sow the seeds and wait a few decades then add bacteria etc until a ecosystem develops suitable for the introduction of mammals etc; meanwhile make a fortune selling alien foodstuffs (that connot be metabolised) .... brilliant diet coup, the fatties will absolutely love it!

A 32 ounce steak from a Tau Ceti III udder headed mega cow .... calorific value minus 55 k calories...... can I have that with quad fries.