The Potential for Human Evolution
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The Potential for Human Evolution 50 years… 50 years… Smart prosthetics for limbs AND organs Genetic ID/elimination of hereditary disease Computers & AI improve Nanotechnology increases
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The Potential for Human Evolution. 50 years… Smart prosthetics for limbs AND organs Genetic ID/elimination of hereditary disease Computers & AI improve Nanotechnology increases. The Potential for Human Evolution. 50 years… Questions… Fusion? Food? Water?. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of The Potential for Human Evolution
The Potential for Human Evolution
50 years…50 years…Smart prosthetics for limbs AND organsGenetic ID/elimination of hereditary diseaseComputers & AI improveNanotechnology increases
The Potential for Human Evolution
50 years…50 years…
Questions…Fusion?Food?Water?
The Potential for Human Evolution
500 years…500 years…Brains/Bodies enhanced (“bionics”)Lifetimes, Adaptability increase
The Potential for Human Evolution
500 years…500 years…
Questions…Room to survive?Resolve to allow “Cyborgs”?Reasons to explore?
The Potential for Human Evolution
5000 years…5000 years…What is “human”?Fully “artificial” 1000+ year lifetimeAble to travel for 1000 years@ high speedsAble to reach nearby stars…
The Potential for Human Evolution
5000 years…5000 years…
Questions…What will “we” find?
Astronomy & Our Lives
What could learning about
the planets and stars
possibly have in common with my life
now??
What have we learned?
Facts:Seven Days/Week, “Moonths” and “Dis-asters”You most likely aren’t an Aries (or whatever sign you
thought you were!) Distance ≠ Seasons!Orbits are just controlled, continuous falling!The world will not end in 2028 (at least because of
Asteroid XF11)There are thousands of planets orbiting other stars…
What have we learned?
Ideas:
We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time relative to the stars
What have we learned?
What have we learned?
Ideas: We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can imagine infinity
What have we learned?
Ideas: We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can imagine infinity, visualize black holes
What have we learned?
Ideas: We humans live for an “eye-blink” of time relative to the stars
But in that blink of an eye, we can imagine infinity, visualize black holes, and explain how the Sun shines for a billion years.
What have we learned?
What have we learned?
Ideas:If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
What have we learned?
Ideas:If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps away
What have we learned?
Ideas:If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps awayPluto would be at Hesperian & Depot roads
What have we learned?
Ideas:If the Earth was a grain of cream of wheat….
The Sun would be an orange ~12 steps awayPluto would be at Hesperian & Depot roadsThe next nearest star would be 1000 miles away,
in El Paso Texas
What have we learned?
1000Nearest Star
What have we learned?
Ideas:If our Milky Way Galaxy …
was the size of the Bay Area….
What have we learned?
Ideas:If the Milky Way Galaxy was the size of the Bay
Area….The Solar System (to Pluto!) is a grain of Cream of
Wheat
The nearest stars would still be ~25 feet away
Around Chabot would be ~120,000 other grains of Cream of Wheat representing other solar systems!
How big is the universe?
The Milky Way has as many stars as grains of sand on all Earth’s beaches
.
What have we learned?
Ideas:Science is not about certaintyMany hypotheses start out wrong!
“We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way
can we find progress.”
― Richard P. Feynman
What have we learned?
Ideas:Science is not about certaintyMany hypotheses start out wrong!
But …Science is self-correcting
Multiple testsIndependent Experiments by othersPeer Review
A sense of who we are…
Culture
A sense of who we are…
Technology
A sense of who we are…
The Falling Star by Sara Teasdale
I saw a star slide down the sky, Blinding the north as it went by,
Too burning and too quick to hold, Too lovely to be bought or sold, Good only to make wishes on And then forever to be gone.
“Doubt thou the stars are fire;Doubt that the sun doth move;Doubt truth to be a liar;But never doubt I love.” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” ― Romeo and Juliet
Stars
Alone in the nightOn a dark hill
With pines around meSpicy and still,
And a heaven full of starsOver my head,
White and topazAnd misty red;
Myriads with beatingHearts of fireThat aeons
Cannot vex or tire;
Up the dome of heavenLike a great hill,
I watch them marchingStately and still,
And I know that IAm honored to be
Witness Of so much majesty.
Who will I have beenwhen I am gone?
- Rebecca Elson
Key Questions for YOU…
Key Questions for YOU…
How does science work?
What do we gain, as humans, by asking questions of Nature?
Is the quest for knowledge worth the costs?
Key Questions for YOU…
What will you do with what you now know?
“Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter.
Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting
if you go into it deeply enough.”
― Richard P. Feynman
