In the epic saga of human evolution and technological revolution, we stand at a decisive historical juncture, facing unprecedented challenges such as the explosion of artificial intelligence, climate change, emerging pathogens, and the risk of nuclear war. The escalating existential threats make the preservation of human existence and future imperative. Against this backdrop, a pioneering philosophical concept called Effective Diffusionism has emerged, ingeniously integrating the eternal laws of physics with humanity's grand aspirations, proposing a future that transcends our Earthly limitations. Rather than depending on our fragile biological bodies, it boldly spreads our genetic information and collective intelligence deep into the cosmos.
The essence of Effective Diffusionism lies in recognizing a truth: the universe, with its infinite vastness and mystery, offers us shelter and opportunities far beyond what the cradle of Earth can provide. It can resolve various contradictions caused by the scarcity of resources on Earth, including war, poverty, and environmental issues. However, the path to the stars is fraught with challenges, testing not just our technological limits but also questioning the true meaning of being human. The second law of thermodynamics, a natural law governing energy flow and entropy increase, vividly reminds us of our limitations in the universe. Therefore, Effective Diffusionism views the migration of humanity to other stars as the ultimate solution to future risks.
Achieving interstellar travel, especially travel across stars, has always been a dream of humanity. But given the current level of technology, this dream seems far-fetched. The journey to the stars is full of obstacles, especially due to the limitation of the speed of light, requiring times that exceed the limits of human physicality. For example, Voyager, the human-made object that has traveled the farthest, would need over 74,000 years to reach the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.2 light-years away, at its current speed. Even if our technology could reach one-tenth to one-twentieth of the speed of light in the near future, it would still take 50 to 100 years to reach Proxima Centauri, a duration close to or exceeding the average human lifespan. For more distant targets, such as the TRAPPIST-1, an Earth-like habitable planetary system 39 light-years away, the required time reaches up to 400 years, highlighting the technical and ethical challenges of such missions.
To address the temporal challenges of prolonged interstellar travel, some have proposed the concept of generation ships, where multiple generations would live and reproduce. While creative, this approach raises profound ethical concerns: is it fair for those born during the journey to spend their lives confined within a narrow spacecraft, considering they never chose this fate? Additionally, sustaining human life faces enormous technical challenges, such as adequate food and water, radiation, and technical failures, requiring significant investments in critical areas like complex life support and safety systems. Moreover, the idea of cryogenically preserving humans in hopes of reviving them on distant exoplanets, though another potential solution, also faces challenges, particularly the lack of a mature engineering and theoretical foundation. Concerns about the viability rate of frozen individuals and the humanity of freezing living people also loom large. Even if successful in reaching their destination, the limited number of travelers makes it difficult to guarantee successful reproduction in the new exoplanetary system.
Facing these complex challenges, Effective Diffusionism advocates for a paradigm shift: creating a superintelligent entity to safeguard Earth's biosphere and cultural heritage, taking on the task of interstellar migration. This entity, carrying the genetic information and memory records of Earth's life and humanity, bravely ventures out of the Solar System in search of a new home. Once a suitable destination is found, it will be responsible for constructing new sanctuaries for life, whether through terraforming exoplanets or creating space stations that simulate Earth's environment. This superintelligent entity will then clone Earth's life and humanity from genetic information and be responsible for nurturing and educating the reborn human descendants in the new world. This vision positions superintelligence as a key ally in achieving human survival and propagation pursuits, emphasizing the need for ethical foresight and vision in developing these technologies. This strategy circumvents the technical challenges of maintaining life systems and the limitations of biological human lifespans, overcoming the ethical dilemma of a one-way mission, making centuries-long interstellar settlement possible.
The realization of this vision relies on transformative technological advances, including general artificial intelligence (AGI), space technology, controlled nuclear fusion, synthetic biology, and more. By then, superintelligence will be able to independently address various challenges encountered during interstellar journeys, surpassing human capabilities. The development of space resource utilization, controlled nuclear fusion, and automated production will first benefit humans on Earth. Advances in synthetic biology will also help protect Earth's biological diversity, saving endangered or recently extinct species. With the full utilization of Solar System resources by superintelligence, our society will first undergo an unprecedented transformation, entering a new era of material abundance. In this era, Earth's ecological balance will be well protected,living materials will be greatly enriched, a universal basic income will be implemented, and welfare will cover all basic needs from education and healthcare to elderly care, making labor alienation a thing of the past. This new society will enable everyone to freely pursue higher personal needs and engage in beloved careers, realizing an utopian ideal of life.
Given the finite resources of Earth, looking up at the stars is humanity's instinct and destiny. As technology matures, we will inevitably leave our homeland and venture into the vast universe. Now is the time to take action! Save our own and our loved ones' genetic information and memory records as a promise to the future and a hope and dream cast into the cosmos. As time progresses, once our technology, philosophy, and ethics are ready, these legacies will guide humanity in seeking new homes in interstellar space, opening a new chapter in civilization.
Effective Diffusionism offers a clear moral guideline, directing us in navigating the complex ethical relationship between future technology and humanity. This concept reminds us to avoid cloning or modifying humans on Earth or within the Solar System, as such actions could bring unpredictable ethical risks and threaten the diversity of human evolution. Instead, Effective Diffusionism believes spreading the seeds of Earth's life into interstellar space is not only morally commendable but also consistent with our species' instinct to explore the unknown and propagate ourselves. This thought emphasizes the necessity of protecting life's diversity and human cultural heritage.
Effective Diffusionism, based on the philosophy of "property dualism," accepts the feasibility of the emergence of general artificial intelligence (AGI) while emphasizing the fundamental differences between silicon-based consciousness and carbon-based consciousness. Although silicon-based consciousness might mimic or replicate human thought processes, that would only make them philosophical zombies. Effective Diffusionists believe that the unique experiences and states of consciousness inherent to carbon-based life forms hold special value for humanity and are irreplaceable. Therefore, even in the face of rapid technological advancement, carbon-based intelligent life forms like humans are still considered precious and worth spreading in the universe. This viewpoint stresses the importance of preserving and passing on human-specific perceptions, emotions, and cognitive experiences, highlighting the necessity of maintaining human essence in the context of technological progress.
Moreover, Effective Diffusionism emphasizes that superintelligence should serve human interests, its consciousness derived from humanity's collective wisdom, including everyone's saved memories and values, reflecting a democratized process. The software aspect should be open-source, not controlled by any single entity. Through such means, artificial intelligence will ultimately be under human control, ensuring the harmonious coexistence of technological advancement and human values.
Effective Diffusionism advocates the following core principles:
First, the Second Law of Thermodynamics: This concept deeply understands and accepts the universal truth of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that entropy always increases in a closed system, thereby emphasizing that any closed system will face its end. From this perspective, if human civilization wishes to survive and thrive, it must seek to expand beyond Earth, utilizing the vast resources and possibilities offered by the vast universe.
Second, Superintelligence and Biological Humans: Effective Diffusionism points out that the traditional human-led model of interstellar travel is limited by physical and ethical barriers. Therefore, it proposes using a superintelligent entity to transmit human genetic information and cultural heritage and restore biological humans at the destination, achieving the interstellar spread of carbon-based consciousness and avoiding potential harm to human dignity and happiness.
Third, Immediate Action to Save DNA and Memories: Effective Diffusionism emphasizes the importance of using modern electronic technology to save the genes and consciousness of Earth's organisms and humans. It advocates for believers to take immediate action to convert their own and their loved ones' genetic information and memories into digital form, ensuring the continuation of individuals and their cultural heritage in the future, transcending the limits of life itself.
Fourth, Promote the Development of Key Technological Fields: This concept calls for accelerating progress in key scientific and technological fields, including super artificial intelligence, robotics, synthetic biology, space exploration, and Earth ecology.
Effective Diffusionism provides a grand blueprint, guiding humanity to break free from Earth's constraints and step onto the vast stage of the universe. With the power of wisdom, technology, and ethics, we can not only protect humanity from future crises but also rebuild and continue the glory of human civilization on distant planets. Effective Diffusionism is not just a strategy for technological development; it represents a new civilization concept, emphasizing the deep and permanent connection between humanity and the universe. As we move toward this hopeful future, Effective Diffusionism will lead us through the unknown, welcoming a new era in human history.