NASA has found 7 earth sized planets around a single star outside our solar system!

[SvennoJ]

bonzobanana said:

SvennoJ said:

I'm thinking more along the line of once we have working AI, we'll also be close to transferring human consciousness or replicating it closely enough. Why sail all accross the ocean to settle in a cave. Why go back to fragile forms when the universe is open to explore without such limitations. It would be like putting a little zoo down on a planet.
Ofcourse there will be traditionalists, like we have Amish societies right now, yet growing humans on a distant planet seems kinda pointless once robotics and AI advance far enough to actually be able to do that.

Survival of the species I suppose. I guess ultimately that's what instinctively its all about, spreading our DNA. We can't kick alien arses (assuming they have arses) without legs. Organic life can multiply with basic water, carbon etc. I guess we can design organic robots using DNA though thinking about it. Once you completely master DNA you can design anything you want to, be it a flock of dentist chairs or a whoop of electric guitars etc.

True. Greg Bear's Hull Zero Three describes such a colonization ship. Tailoring DNA to whatever is needed at the time for the conditions of the target planet(s). Yet once we master energy and matter manipulation, organic life becomes very restrictive. If you only need energy and raw matter to survive, and perhaps even only energy at some point, why bother with organic DNA. It would explain why we haven't detected alien life yet. No Dyson spheres or Ringworlds or other terraforming projects etc spread all over the night sky. By the time a species reaches long distance space flight, the need for corpereal forms and giant self sustaining organic habitats might be obsolete.