Hard Sci-Fi | Novels | Short Stories

>> Intelligent Biosphere Spaceships and Interstellar Human Migration

> EXCERPT:

The International Space Station (ISS) orbiting at about 480 km above Earth’s surface can be considered an almost autonomous space habitat. It’s not a fully closed-loop system, since every 6 months astronauts receive fresh supplies and other cargo utilities from Earth. Space agencies involved in the operation and systems functioning of the orbital station must keep the internal environment suitable for a continuous human life presence. Oxygen and water have to be regenerated, carbon dioxide and other volatile organic gases and possible contaminants have to be removed, pressure, temperature and humidity have to be constantly checked and regulated. Waste removal of the astronauts (liquid and solid) is another big concern, together with waste food and other inorganic space trash such as packaging materials, textiles, etc. Each astronaut aboard the ISS generates about XXX kg of organic waste and XX kg of inorganic waste. NASA accounts that in futures manned Mars mission, each human would need about XXX kg of food and XX kg of water for a hypothetical 2.5-years mission. Solutions for recycle and regenerate this basic supplies will be of primary importance, since the cost of the mass of bring all this feedstocks directly from Earth will render the endeavour unfeasible.

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>> The Call of the Unknown

> EXCERPT:

We understood that it was not important what life was made of, what kind of matter it was composed of, or on what spatial and temporal scale it existed: it was the purpose, the intention to seek the unknown, the evolution and transformation toward new forms of life and reality that were the driving forces behind intelligence and self-awareness. The abysses of the future were our past: there was no limit to what the creative energy of life could be. The future and the past had merged, and there was no longer any difference between what we could seek and what we were.

In the beginning it was not very clear what was happening and what it would mean for the human species and its purpose in the universe. Neither the scientists nor the inventors of the first ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence), which was being developed by industrial corporations and government control task forces, could have anticipated what would happen. Nor could the control algorithms used to monitor and mitigate unexpected dynamics. ASIs slowly took the place of humans in production chains, decision-making and even scientific research. Every area of human society became increasingly automated by machines. They learned to build themselves and improve every area of technology and engineering. They multiplied everything that the human species was capable of doing at an ever-increasing rate. The entire planet Earth was transformed into a continuous source of data for the ASIs. Internet networks became a single hyperconnected noosphere penetrating human and ecological systems through billions of sensors scattered across planet Earth and in every single constructed element. We humans lost control of our future and felt no longer the protagonists of the flow of complex life that began hundreds of millions of years ago. Something of unimaginable complexity was emerging. ASIs autonomously created powerful quantum supercomputers, new systems of algorithms with billions of levels of depth, continuously improving their capabilities and power in every field and concept known to humans. In their hyperconnected network of thousands of quantum supercomputers, an intelligent superorganism was emerging.

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