There’s a chance that humans are unique in the universe – the only species that has evolved sapience. From what we know based on our extremely limited observations of our tiny little speck of space, Earth may be the home to the only life in the universe, period.
At some point, at most billions of years in the future, life on Earth will come to an end. With this said, should humans spread life across the galaxy, from the lowest bacteria to humanity itself? Michael Mautner of Virginia Commonwealth University says that humans have a “moral obligation” to do just that - and we should start now.
“We have a moral obligation to plan for the propagation of life, and even the transfer of human life to other solar systems which can be transformed via microbial activity, thereby preparing these worlds to develop and sustain complex life,” Mautner explained to PhysOrg.com. “Securing that future for life can give our human existence a cosmic purpose.”
As Mautner explains in his study published in an upcoming issue of theJournal of Cosmology, the strategy is to deposit an array of primitive organisms on potentially fertile planets and protoplanets throughout the universe. Like the earliest life on Earth, organisms such as cyanobacteria could seed other planets, digest toxic gases (such as ammonia and carbon dioxide on early Earth) and release products such as oxygen which promote the evolution of more complex species. To increase their chances of success, the microbial payloads should contain a variety of organisms with various environmental tolerances, and hardy multicellular organisms such as rotifer eggs to jumpstart higher evolution. These organisms may be captured into asteroids and comets in the newly forming solar systems and transported from there by impacts to planets as their host environments develop.
To accomplish this feat, Mautner proposes loading ships equipped with solar sails with a “few hundred tons” of biomass and then aiming them at planets that may provide microorganisms with an environment to survive. Unfortunately, this could take thousands to millions of years. If we’re still around at that point, hopefully we’ll have figured out how to effectively terraform other worlds and colonize them ourselves.
(Via Blogging the Singularity)