On Sunday, 14 April 2019 Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees will take part in Edinburgh Science Festival to talk about the real possibility Darwinian evolution will be superseded through the deployment of genetic modification and cyborg technologies.
On the Future: Prospects for Humanity
Sunday, 14 April at 5.30pm (1 hour)
Pleasance Theatre, Pleasance
Tickets available here
Lord Rees will postulate on thrill-seekers in the next century who may establish bases independent from Earth. He will also discuss what he considers a dangerous delusion that space offers an escape from Earth’s climate change issues.
He will also talk about the future of machines which might surpass our human capabilities.
Discussing the very far future, Lord Rees will say: “The Sun has been shining for 4.5 billion years. But it’s got 6 billion more before the fuel runs out. And the expanding universe will continue, perhaps forever, so we may not even be at the half-way stage of evolution.”
“Even if life had originated only on the Earth, it need not remain a trivial feature of the cosmos: humans could jump-start a diaspora whereby ever more complex intelligence spreads through the whole galaxy via self-reproducing machines, transmitting DNA, instructions for 3D printers or suchlike. Interstellar voyages – or even intergalactic voyages – would hold no terrors for near-immortals.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
