WHEN WILL WE SEE THESE HYPER-INTELLIGENT
BEINGS LIVING AMONG US?
That’s very difficult to predict. The speed of
evolution is slow and comprehensible right now,
but once it starts moving and becomes hyper-
intelligent in its own context, it might be
exceedingly fast. We’re talking an increase of
millions, in terms of acceleration.
AND WHAT WILL THEY LOOK LIKE?
I’ve kind of thought of them – if I do think of them
at all – as almost ephemeral. Sort of f loating
entities. Very lightweight. Perhaps even
transparent. So, that’s my particular vision.
Others will see them differently. We don’t
look terribly like some of our ancestors, so why
should they?
YOU MENTIONED EARLIER THAT THESE CYBORGS
WILL NEED US. WHY IS THAT?
If I’m right about Gaia theory, then the
sustenance of the planet will require continuous
cooperation of the various kingdoms. I mean, the
plant kingdom cannot be suddenly removed – it’s
got to be there because something’s got to fix the
solar photons coming in and turn them into
energy and food.
The kind of function that we’re fulfilling [as
humans] is more on the intelligence level than
the metabolic level, but it will have to go on. In
their own interests, the cyborgs will be obliged to
join us in the project to keep the planet cool.
I’m not against Hollywood. It’s a wonderful
source of entertainment, but it does tend to be
over-aggressive and fighting battles all the time.
I don’t see that there’s any need for that with our
relationship with the cyborgs.
YOU JUST MENTIONED GAIA THEORY, WHICH YOU
ARE KNOWN FOR CREATING. HOW WOULD YOU
EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE WHO’S NOT COME
ACROSS IT BEFORE?
It sees the Earth as a system made up of all the
rocks, all the atmosphere, all the ocean, and all
the living things, and these interact together to
sustain a state that keeps the living part of it
surviving.
It has to. If the living part dies, then so does the
whole darned system, and it goes back to
becoming a [dead] rocky planet like the ones that
we have [in the Solar System] already.
AND SO THE NOVACENE BEINGS WILL NEED US
TO HELP REGULATE THE SYSTEM, BECAUSE
WE’RE SUCH AN INTEGRAL PART OF IT?
Exactly, yes. One would imagine that they would
want to keep the status quo here for a fair time.
They might eventually find means of moving to
somewhere more comfortable, but there isn’t
anywhere in the Solar System where one could
conceive that would be better than the Earth.
Mars certainly wouldn’t be.
And we will need these cyborgs, too. We’ll
need them very badly.WHY’S THAT?
The greatest threat to life on Earth is
overheating. We’re obviously playing a huge part
now with climate change. But the long-term
threat to life is the exponentially increasing
output of heat from the Sun [‘main sequence’
stars such as the Sun gradually become hotter
and brighter as they age]. In a relatively short
time – several hundred million years – its heat
output will be more than we can take.
Unless, of course, the Novacene characters put
up ref lective mirrors or something like that [to
reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the
Earth]. Geoengineering projects will be well
within their capability. It’s conceivable that we
could do it ourselves, but in the Novacene there“ I ’ V E K I N D O F T H O U G H T O F T H E M
I F I D O T H I N K O F T H E M AT A L L
A S A L M O S T E P H E M E R A L. S O R T O F
FLOATING ENTITIES”
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