QUANTUM LIFE HYPOTHESIS

How I think life evolves in the universe. There are 3 stages of life and 3 stages of evolution; each with their own evolutionary impact on life overall. These 3 types of life are: Biological carbon based life, technological silicon based life, and quantum energy based life. Humans are currently in the biological stage, or late Stage 1.

Currently the only known life is on earth. We have not found evidence of any life form anywhere else in the universe as of the date of this writing. This hypothesis posits that our existence and the existence of other life forms on earth is enough evidence to conclude with reasonable certainty that it is possible that life can form and evolve independently on planets with liquid water at the right distance from their parent star. This is circular logic, yes, but in this circumstance I think it works as a good starting point, especially considering the trillions upon trillions of other stars and planets throughout the universe and the probabilistic odds that life is not only not rare, but that life in the universe is in fact inevitable given the huge numbers of galaxies, stars, planets, and opportunities for life to develop independently that are involved. It is highly unlikely that life does not independently develop throughout the universe. It’s possible, but not likely. We humans are evidence that life is capable of evolving independently. Moving forward from this logical perspective I take small steps in logic from there and expand it outward through time and space to come to the conclusion that eventually life evolves into energy which consumes all matter in the universe and the sheer mass of all the combined matter and energy eventually collapses the universe into a singularity and then BOOM, another Big Bang occurs, starting the process all over again. Meaning the universe is infinitely cyclical, the evolution of life is an inevitable part of that cosmological process over vast amounts of time, and this could explain why Fermi was right to ask the question “Where is everyone?”.

I think this is how all life evolves throughout the universe and I base this hypothesis on multiple other hypotheses and current knowledge in the scientific community at large including the Kardashev Scale, Moore’s Law, Kepler Space Telescope data, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, Game Theory, Economics, Statistics, Chemistry, Biology, Evolution, Physics, and other areas of accepted peer-reviewed science.

First I’d like to say for the record, this hypothesis is formed strictly from a layman's perspective as I do not have a formal education in the sciences. My background in science is limited to study of current scientific knowledge including published peer-reviewed studies, papers, essays and hypotheses from cosmologists, physicists, astronomers, chemists, biologists, etc., as well as the currently accepted scientifically verified laws of physics.

Personally I seek facts based on evidence, the same as science. I realize my ideas are speculation; having said that, this speculation is based on over 13 years of study of the science of the universe. It is my biggest passion. Facts are more important than my opinion. I am intellectually honest enough to realize and admit I do not know what I do not know and I don’t claim to be an authority on the subject. I simply have a primal urge to know how the universe works. My quest for knowledge and understanding based on science is at the core of my being. It’s part of who I am and I am perfectly fine with discarding this hypothesis if parts of all of my hypothesis is incorrect, because facts are more important to me than my ego for being right. I would very much like this hypothesis to be true, but I temper that passion with logic and reason and try my best not to have an emotionally biased attachment to this hypothesis. I am human however, so I am imperfect. I am open to criticism and correction if any of my logic is incorrect or I get any facts wrong. I invite anyone to critique my work and find holes or mistakes if they can. I welcome commentary and ideas about this hypothesis.

So with all that said, let’s dive in.

I want to start with the Big Bang and what we know about the beginning of the universe. Also the beginning of time.

The Big Bang theory is a cosmological explanation for how the universe came to be in existence starting with a singularity from which all matter and energy appeared and exploded outward in all directions. The universe was born 13.8 billion years ago.

No one knows what happened before the Big Bang because space and time do this weird thing and become one at the singular point in space and time called spacetime. Technically speaking time and space did not exist before the singularity before the Big Bag. We can likely debate infinitely about where all the matter and energy came from, but this hypothesis won’t go into that philosophical realm.

As matter and energy expanded outward from the Big Bang, galaxies and stars and planets formed. We don’t know if life started anywhere else in the universe before our planet formed around our star some 4.56 billion years ago. What we do know is that life is on earth and that life is carbon based biological life.

We know that because Earth has liquid water and this was probably the catalyst (combine with heat and pressure and time) to kickstart the chemical processes that eventually, over about a billion years, developed into organic compounds, amino acids, the building blocks of RNA and eventually DNA, and then single celled and multicellular organisms about 3 billion years ago. These organisms continued to evolve over billions of years into ever more complex organisms until eventually humans came to be the dominant life forms on earth and millions of other types and kinds of life forms developed on their own evolutionary paths. This is a gross oversimplification I know, but it’s the accepted theory of how evolution happened over time on earth.

I’ll paraphrase Carl Sagan’s words here to describe something I think is a profound existential realization. We, humans, are a way for the universe to know itself. That idea has always stuck with me ever since I heard Sagan utter those words.

The fact that life evolves ever more complex life is enough to expand on that logically by asking the question, what kind of life will this process evolve in the future? How will life evolve moving forward?

I think I’ll mention that I think there is an assumption in areas of the scientific community that assumes that biological life is the pinnacle of life in the universe. I think this is unintentional, or perhaps even a subconscious instinct to believe that humans, or at the very least, biological life is the pinnacle of life itself. However, there is also a growing idea that life evolves beyond the biological into the technological. But even some of those logical opinions stop there. Which I believe is a mistake. I believe it’s a mistake because I think evolution is infinite. I do not believe for an instant that evolution stops, that there is no “pinnacle of life” in the universe and that life itself eventually, over billions of years, inevitably becomes energy. How? I have no idea. I’m only basing this on logic and reason and my limited knowledge of the universe itself.

It seems logical to me that humans will evolve themselves. We are currently conquering diseases more frequently. Technology is developing extremely rapidly and we have reached the exponential growth curve in human evolution; a point in technological advancement where life takes control of evolution itself and evolves itself into new life forms. Humans have almost gained control over evolution technologically. We have the ability to extend human life. In fact we have extended human life over the past few thousand years by double; most of that in the past few hundred years.

Moving forward it’s not hard to logically conclude that the likelihood we will continue this level of advancement is high. Barring life destroying itself through war or some kind of extinction level event happening like and asteroid/comet impact or gamma ray burst or something along those lines, it is an almost certainty that humans will continue to evolve themselves with technology. This technology includes 5 major areas of science and medical technologies.

LIFE EXTENSION METHODS: LIKELIHOOD OF TECHNOLOGICAL IMMORTALITY

  • Pharmaceuticals - Drugs. Mainly these are merely treatments for symptoms or preventative maintenance, not cures for diseases. Although there could be a “fountain of youth” type drug that allows a humanoid (or any carbon based biological entity) to survive very long periods of time. Though not immortal, the being (human or alien) could essentially live forever IF cellular repair and replacement could be fast and absolute.
  • Genetic Engineering - Editing, reprogramming, modification of the genome (DNA) of a human (or alien) to produce desirable traits and remove undesirable DNA. It’s thought that telomeres a related to longevity, and we could live exponentially longer lives if we could discover a way to effectively modify/repair our DNA and cells, our cells would have the ability to last longer and repair themselves more efficiently.
  • Nanotechnology - Microscopic Medibots, nanites, nanobots which are programmed to seek out and destroy harmful microbes and cells (bacteria, viruses, fungi, cancer etc.)
  • Cyber Enhancement - Augmenting a biological organism (human or alien) with technology to enhance durability and longevity and maximize work performance.
  • Transfer of Consciousness To a Machine/Computer - Becoming AI. The transfer of human consciousness (memories, thoughts, brain data) to a computer inside a starship or android or some other kind of machine to extend life and propagate throughout the universe.

All of these combined are probably used throughout the universe by intelligent civilizations to prolong life.

But I think this is where this kind of life extension stops in the universe. I think it stops because an advanced alien civilization would realize that biological life forms are no evolved for space travel and they would likely try to figure out a way to adapt to their new environment that is interstellar space travel.

The weakness and inefficiency of biological life.

FRAGILITY OF BIOLOGICAL LIFE:

Biological, organic, carbon based life is fragile and very limited in its ability to do work without damage. It’s not as efficient because biological life forms are extremely fragile compared to technological machines.

Biological life is extremely sensitive to temperature fluctuations, radiation, extreme pressures (vacuum and pressure at different elevations), toxins, acids, and many chemicals. Biological life is not very durable physically and it is prone to trauma/damage to skin, flesh, bone, cells. Infections and poisons are another threat to biological life. Biological life is not the most efficient kind of life, by far.

INEFFICIENCY OF BIOLOGICAL LIFE:

Carbon based organic/biological life is most efficient only within the environment it evolves, and then only as efficient as it needs to be to self-replicate and propagate throughout said environment.

TECHNOLOGICAL LIFE:

We can now create AI. AI has the potential to be smarter than humans. We can logically reason that based on our current rate of technological advancement, that eventually we will likely create a superintelligent AI. Further, based on our same technological advancement of medical technology, drugs, genetic engineering, nanotech, cybernetic augmentation, etc., that we (life in general) will eventually merge with technology AI and machines to become a new kind of life. It just seems that this is the most logical outcome. Statistical probability suggests that the merging of the biological with the technological will likely happen.

One can logically speculate that because I’m thinking it and I know that others within my species are also thinking it, and if we humans are thinking this way now, we must assume other technologically advanced species would also come to the conclusion as well. That biological life is too fragile for interstellar travel.

Evolution doesn’t always choose the best life form, right? Maybe not, but natural selection works; however, when an intelligent species advances technology to the point it can become more efficient at adapting to the environment, one has to rethink its place in the universe.

Evolution itself can be controlled at a certain point in the evolution of an intelligent species. This is an evolutionary singularity, a transcendence or transitionary period, a stage in the cosmic lifecycle of life itself. A point in cosmic time where intelligence realizes that biological life is not the pinnacle of life in the universe.

Neither is technological life. It likely continues on until it finds a way to become energy. But I’m no scientist or mathematician or physicist. I can only logically speculate on where and how things might happen, and logically where that is likely to lead.

I don’t believe for an instant that biological life is the pinnacle of life in the universe. Show me evidence that it’s impossible to transfer our consciousness, and further that it’s impossible for an AI to become superintelligent, and I’ll be forced to accept it as evidence that what I propose is impossible. I MUST change my mind based on the evidence because my opinion means nothing unless it’s based on cold hard scientific empirical evidence.

However...Having said all that. I still think that given the laws of physics are probably likely the same throughout the universe, and evolution happens similarly everywhere in the universe, that an intelligent biological species will eventually become technology simply because it’s more efficient.

Darwin even said that the primary factor driving evolution is not natural selection, but rather adaptation. Adaptation is deliberate. This goes to the creativity and abstract thought of any given creature. The ability of any given creature to think abstractly enough to adapt to the environment they are in. Currently humans need only be adapted to live on earth. But that will change as our priorities change. As the dangers to our existence increase, we will adapt.

Natural selection becomes artificial selection. This is the evolutionary technological singularity.

It’s a stage in between biological evolution and technological evolution.

Increasing our ability to think abstractly, to problem solve, to adapt and overcome the limitations of biological life. To overcome the limitations and inefficiencies of natural selection itself. We do this through logical abstract thought and creative problem solving tempered by critical thinking and intellectual honesty. Being nihilistic about life and the universe, but not negative. One doesn’t have to be negatively nihilistic about life.

I think biological carbon based life forms throughout the universe come to the same conclusions I have come to, that humanity will eventually come to. We have to assume that survival and propagation is the goal of any species. They will realize where they come from, where they are, and where they must go to survive. The idea of survival of the fittest isn’t just based on natural selection alone. If that were the case we may not exist at all.

It’s a combination of everything. All the things. Mostly it was probably abstract thought and creativity, not just intellect or just natural selection that allowed humans to advance and adapt to their environment. If knowledge is our goal, survival must also be; and vice versa! If survival is our goal, knowledge must also be.

To learn the secret of the universe, we must explore. To explore we must live longer. To live longer we must become more durable. We become more durable by evolving ourselves. It’s a logical process of adaptation and controlling evolution.

Even pharmaceuticals, genetic engineering, cybernetics, and nanotechnology will only go so far in making biological life last longer. Durability is a direct factor, a deciding factor in adaptation and that becomes the deciding factor in evolution itself. I think some civilizations get it, some don’t, some destroy themselves, and some prosper. I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule or a single great filter. There are likely lots of “filters” out there that can destroy a civilization.

This brings us to the types of civilizations that are hypothesized to be out there in the universe.

We have the ability to decide to evolve ourselves now. We have the ability to advance evolution beyond the biological and I think so will any other intelligent biological life form which reaches K1 Type civilization. (see Kardashev Scale: K1, K2, K3)

Here is the Kardashev scale and Wikipedia's explanation of what it is:

"...The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy they are able to utilize. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964. The scale has three designated categories:

1. A Type I civilization—also called a planetary civilization—can use and store all of the energy available on its planet.

2. A Type II civilization—also called a stellar civilization—can use and control energy at the scale of its solar system.

3. A Type III civilization—also called a galactic civilization—can control energy at the scale of its entire host galaxy..." SOURCE: Wikipedia

This seems like a logical simplification of the types of technological civilizations.