I will never forget when my son seven years ago, looking me straight in the eye, announces that he wants to enroll in the Mars One project. I had vaguely heard of it but at the time I was not interested in space so I knew almost nothing about it. Of course, being an astronaut is every child’s dream, but going to colonize another planet is something different.
What do you do if your child informs you that he wants to leave Earth? You remain incredulous and amused, then you worry because she is of age and therefore it can be difficult to dissuade him. Then you think that if you are not wearing a silver jumpsuit or a headdress equipped with antennas and sensors, nevertheless your child informs you that he wants to go and colonize Mars.
On February 18, 2021, Perseverance touches the Martian soil. It sends us spectacular images in 4K and for the first time we hear the sound of the wind of a planet that is not ours. China is not far behind and sends its space probe announcing that in addition to the possibility of a future manned mission (they are not called astronauts but taikonauts), it is also studying how to orbit around Venus and Jupiter.
Elon Musk, who plans to take man to Mars in 2026, says: “It will be a long journey, dangerous, uncomfortable and from which you may not return alive. But it is a glorious adventure, and it will be an incredible experience.” And while NASA and Obama himself officially admit that unidentified objects exist, our childhood fantasies need to be recalibrated. Has space lost its romantic charm? What meaning do we give to science fiction today?
“Those who dream by day know many things that escape those who dream only at night,” he said Edgar Allan Poe, which few people know in his capacity as a proto-science fiction author. We live in a reality where sci-fi has become normality, has acquired a practical character, has changed into a‘concrete opportunity for power and profit.
We wonder if we are still progressing according to Darwinian selection or if human evolutionary cycles are already influenced by the exponential growth of technologies.
Human evolution has been shaped by the interchange between primordial species. The DNA of the archaeological finds shows that our ancestors, after leaving Africa, came into contact with the Neanderthals, who then crossed with the Denisovans, a species unknown until a few years ago.
Recent genetic discoveries suggest that hybridization was crucial to the development of our species. What will we become? Will we mate with the machines? Will we become cyborg?
Neuralink, yet another project by Elon Musk, was created to enhance our brain. They started by creating external BCIs (brain-machine interfaces) and then devoted themselves to “Link”, a device about 23 millimeters in diameter installed in the brain, which the technological oligarch describes as “a Fitbit in your skull with tiny threads” that they connect to the brain matter.
According to Musk we will need it because otherwise we will not be able to compete and perhaps govern future artificial intelligence. Neuralink has already experimented with its chip on pigs, which are gaining more and more space in scientific research because they share important anatomical and physiological characteristics with us humans, then on monkeys and is expected on humans at the end of the year.
There is no doubt that NBIC (Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information technology, Cognitive science), prostheses, smart drugs and nootropics (substances that increase brain capacities) can improve our physiology beyond current human limits. Should we really pursue all of this? Should we set limits or learn to use all this “scientific and technological windfall” with conscience? Should ethics play a role? If, how?
Ethics must keep pace with the exponential progress of technology, “leapfrog” must take the leap and become the current subject of our innovations. Do we want to involve science fiction authors in public debates? They are the ones who imagine our tomorrow, who inspire our progress and perhaps we need to encourage them to tell about a tolerable, constructive and advantageous future.
And then ethics must be brought to school, in the classroom, applied to new technologies. The alpha generation, those born after 2010, are a different species from the previous ones. More than 2.5 million are born every week globally. When they are all born (2025) they will be nearly 2 billion – the largest generation in the history of the world. It will be the richest, most educated and most technologically connected group. It will enjoy a longer life than its predecessors and will grow up interacting with humans, robots and artificial intelligence.
With them, our innovations will become products and if we train them immediately in an inclusive way we will have a healthier, more efficient and responsible future. It is perhaps a cliché but studies show that women tend to justify actions on the basis of an ethic of compassion, while men adhere more to procedures governed by laws and rules. We need both.
This will be the most pioneering decade in history. Emerging technologies will lead to exponential innovation. We should strive to embark on this journey, aware of the risks we are facing, and openly discuss the social repercussions these technologies could have if left only to their “creators”: an appeal in search of exponential ethics.
As for the journey to Mars, although probably at his age, I would have done the same, I’m a serious Italian mom and so my answer was: “over my dead body”, you have to go over my corpse.
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