Introduction

Modern science has identified a huge spectrum of threats to our survival, amongst which are asteroid impact, climate change, societal collapse, nuclear, chemical or biological war or accident, famine, epidemic and various natural disasters such as a supervolcano eruption, to name but a few.

A potential threat identified only in 2007 is cosmic radiation from a blackhole collision at the centre of the galaxy. Without warning, such an event could release a mega-scale gamma ray burst that would render the earth uninhabitable in a matter of seconds. Depending on its intensity, the burst might only destroy the ozone layer or it could strip away the atmosphere or even boil off the oceans reducing the earth to a scorched cinder. Either way, all life would be extinguished. In the worst-case scenario, the biosphere would never recover.

The recent emergence of our technological civilisation has left a trail of environmental devastation in its wake that may yet bring about our self-destruction. At the same time, new advances in many areas of science and technology promise a golden age just beyond the horizon. The challenge is to survive the current storm and secure mankind’s destiny on earth and beyond.

This proposal draws together breakthroughs in several fields of science and anticipates the development of a few key technologies from research programs that are currently underway.

At the heart of the proposal is a facility called a DNA Ark. The facility would be manned by autonomous robots able to regenerate living organisms from digitally-stored genetic codes from either inert materials or live cells stored in metabolic stasis.

In the event of an extinction-scale disaster, one or more such Arks would regenerate volunteers as embryos that would be matured, raised and educated to the point where they could repopulate the earth and resurrect human civilisation.

The Arks would represent mankind’s last hope for survival. They would activate after all other extinction counter-measures had failed and would be effective against threats powerful enough to extinguish all life within the Milky Way. They would be designed to remain passive for centuries or even millennia without power or maintenance until the earth became habitable again before regenerating the survivors.

The survival advantage provided by DNA Ark technology is so great that a foundation has been established to begin their immediate design and implementation. The project is called the Extinction Survival Plan (ESP). Without it, we are sitting ducks in a cosmic shooting gallery.

The second application flows naturally from the first. Called Celestial Voyager, the project envisages a fleet of Starships. Each ship would be equipped with a DNA Ark and propelled on a ballistic trajectory by the gravitational slingshot technique toward a nearby star in search of habitable planets.

An orbital platform manned by robots would build the Celestial Voyager fleet from metals, minerals and volatile commodities obtained from asteroids and comets. Now that space exploration is open to private enterprise, trade in surplus space-based commodities would finance the project once mining operations were underway.

Most people would probably agree that saving mankind from extinction is a worthy cause, especially if the process leads to the colonisation of space: the last frontier.

The best part of this proposal is that anyone can volunteer and have their DNA sequenced for regeneration after an extinction-scale event on earth or, in any event, amongst the stars as pioneer galactic explorers.

The dilution of genetic resilience brought about by improvements in medicine and standards of living within a rapidly growing population means that future generations will be less able to survive under conditions of environmental stress such as, for example, in the aftermath of a global disaster. Our mission will ensure that mankind’s genetic inheritance is preserved into the future.

This proposal offers some of us alive today a unique opportunity to continue to participate in man’s future through the process of genetic regeneration for far longer than natural life expectancy would otherwise allow.

We can only imagine the advances that await us in the future: personality preservation, human singularity, mind uploading, extreme life extension and even physical immortality. For the moment, our best hope is for our tried and tested genes to have another opportunity to achieve their fullest potential with the benefit of the experiences and lessons accumulated during this lifetime.

The path to our objective runs through unknown territory. The plan will remain flexible so that it can adapt to changes in technology and the prevailing social, moral, legal and religious climate. Nothing is set in stone except our ultimate objective: to regenerate our members whenever and wherever circumstances permit for the benefit of mankind.

These ideas will be explored in more detail as further pages are added to this website over the next few weeks. Links will also be provided for those who wish to join the interstellar missions or volunteer to help implement these exciting projects.