pic by fredrik skogkvist
Talking about the apocalypse is so hot right now. Be it scientific (climate change) or spiritual (2012), it’s as if a life-erasing calamity will be knocking on our atmosphere shields any second. Say the worst does happen – the Sun sends a microwave message warning that it’s gonna throw a tantrum a bit and we’ll all perish within the next ten years. With our planet headed toward certain destruction, the only option left is to #getoffearth.
Space is the final frontier! Well, it’s the only frontier when you’re facing certain death on your own planet. But we know that if shit really does hit the fan and we go to space, our chances of preserving a living specimen of human are nil.
Unless we figure out how to compress space/time, there is very very very very very little chance a human species will be sustained long enough to establish survival on another planet. Mmmaaayyyyyybbbeeee it could work on the moon. But even if that happens, only precious astronauts will get to bear this burden.
So knowing that we’ll soon die, the next best thing will be to preserve elements of ourselves and send them into space. Options include blood, dna, eyes, whole bodies, first amendments, pottery, computer parts, movies, art work, books – anything that acts as a time capsule for the human kind.
The option for preserving our DNA will arguably be the most popular. We could believe that our DNA will be discovered by aliens who have discovered the magic of life and could inject the soul back into your body. Or maybe they could genetically create a human being using only a thumb. Or maybe your dna could land on another planet that by the very off-chance will support the very beginnings of life. And maybe, just maybe, it’ll allow you to continue life on another planet.
To have any fighting chance in preserving the human race in any shape or form, we have to go up, and what could result will be very entertaining to say the least.
Most importantly, we will be sending bits and fluids of your body. An industry will develop for preserving and fedexing things out of the atmosphere (in a trajectory of one’s choice. Astronomy and astrology will make huge comebacks). Just as the first Emperor of China wend to mind-blowing lengths to preserve evidence of his legacy for eternity, so will we. Why not send tombs up in preservation capsules? Wouldn’t it be incredible to be frozen forever on a voyage through the expanse of space?
Then of course there are the art pieces. Anyone whose seen 2012 knows how important expressionism is to the continuation of human-kind. We need to send these urinals into the eternal starry night. And maybe, just maybe, an alien will find it, and the legacy of the human-kind will continue on in some way.
