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Spacecast Your Bemes!



Why Spacecast?
Spacecasting helps to preserve humanity from extinction. Our galaxy is a dangerous place. One possible answer to the Fermi Paradox of “where are all the ETs” is that cosmic natural disasters have thus far killed life off before it can spread galaxy-wide. Disasters include Gamma Ray Bursts, Supernovas, Magnetostar Eruptions, Extreme Solar Events and Asteroidal Impacts.

The asteroid Apophis (first discovered in 2004) has a well-calibrated 1-in-5000 chance of impacting the earth sometime in the 2030s. It will almost certainly come as close as a DirectTV satellite orbits, a distance that may result in its disintegration under earth’s gravitational tidal forces. Its impact would have the explosive impact of 20 of the most powerful nuclear bombs ever made going off at once -- about 2-3 times the explosive force of the Krakatoa Volcanic eruption. The vast majority of asteroids are unidentified, and gravitational tugs constantly send new ones close to earth from the vast reservoir between Mars and Jupiter, and the even larger reservoir in the Kuiper Belt. Thus far humans have been a lucky player in a cosmic dodgeball game. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event

About every hundred million years the majority of species on earth have been wiped out. This presumably is due to even larger asteroidal impacts or stellar outbursts not far from us that have the impact of shredding our atmosphere, decimating our climate and/or ruining our genetic material. Though improbable during any lifetime, such extinction events might occur at any time, and will surely occur at some point in time.

By spacecasting your bemes you will achieve a level of immortality, and so will humanity. The immortality will be only theoretical if the galaxy is and always remains devoid of technological life. But if there is now or in the future advanced life, then our spacecast signal has a chance of being decoded from the background cosmic noise like a cellphone’s CDMA (spread spectrum) signal is captured out of random electromagnetic noise. Once our spacecast signal is decoded, your bemes can be interpreted and you can be recreated from those bemes – much like a police sketch artist creates a realistic photo from a few clues.

There is no need to recreate our genes. Our bemes are far more relevant! Humanity is no more about its genes than it is about all of its evolutionary predecessors. Genes of all sorts were necessary to create humanity, but once we became a beme-digitizing species, genes are no longer necessary to our continuation.

While space is vast, it will not be unduly difficult to find our spacecast. First, our signal is transecting hundreds of planets within a few hundred light-years of earth (see Earthlike Planets Discovered) Second, even from thousands of light-years away, the earth will be distinguishable from the sun with a sufficiently powerful telescope. So long as the earth’s light is visible – even as the tiniest, palest pinprick of a blue dot -- the presence of oxygen will strongly express itself in the light spectrum. In other words, the observed light spectrum will “dip” at the precise frequencies that oxygen absorbs light everywhere in the universe (0.68 microns, .76 microns). This is a telltale sign that something interesting, chemically, is going on. The same analysis applies to signs of water (0.74 microns, 0.84 microns) or vegetation in even a few pixels of light from a very distant earth.

The next logical step is to check a sphere surrounding such a planet for signs of electromagnetic communication. Our spacecast will be found so long as there is life bright enough technologically to do so. While its density in space will become ever more sparse, it will not disappear in our galaxy and will be recoverable for many thousands of years.

There is of course the risk that the decoded version of you from your spacecast will not be pleased with his or her new life. If you are worried about that, don’t spacecast your bemes. There is also the probability that the decoded, re-bodied form of you will be given a comfortable life, in a home-like place, surrounded by re-bodied versions of other spacecasters and/or your bemes of your friends. As the saying goes, risk and reward ride the same elevator!

We won’t try to guess at the psychology and motivations of whomever might receive and decode our spacecast. We can only hope that respect for autonomy goes hand-in-hand with technological advancement. If this is true, the bemes of spacecasters who affirmatively express their desire to be re-instantiated (such as via this website) will be brought to life, whereas other broadcast images will not be.

Every explorer accepts risk. By spacecasting you are virtually exploring deep space at the speed of light. Your and others’ spacecasts may be central to preserving the legacy of humanity. That is a great and noble goal. It may also make for the most exciting and magical life imaginable.

M. R.