Fantastic Dialogue: "Cosmic Body Worlds"–A Thought Experiment

Safe Among the Stars – Instead of Returning to the Earth



"If I had the choice, I'd rather be plastinated or mummified than someday be buried, consumed by worms, or reduced to ashes."
"But why? You wouldn't be aware of any of it anyway."
"Probably not. Even so, many people find it difficult to regard their own bodies with complete indifference after death. Something deep inside us resists the idea of simply decaying."
"Perhaps because nature needed billions of years to produce intelligent life—and then, for each individual, everything is suddenly over."
"At least for those who would rather imagine continuing in the universe than placing their hopes in an uncertain afterlife."
"If we ever managed to extend human life dramatically, it would require enormous scientific advances—genetics, biotechnology, nanotechnology. That would be something entirely different from simply talking about the soul."
"Exactly. But until then, there may be another, rather unusual possibility."



"What kind of possibility?"
"Our bodies could continue traveling through space after death."
"How would that work?"
"Modern plastination preserves the human body remarkably well for extremely long periods. The result often looks so lifelike that, at first glance, it's difficult to tell whether the person is alive or not. So why not deliberately send such preserved bodies into space?"
"That does sound rather macabre."
"Of course it does. Yet it could also be far more comforting than the thought of simply disappearing without a trace beneath the soil."
"It wouldn't make any difference to the deceased, though."
"No. But perhaps it would to those left behind. The idea of embarking on a final journey that could last millions—or even billions—of years has a certain fascination."
"And what purpose would that serve?"
"Several, actually. While still alive, every person could decide the destination of their final voyage. Perhaps even choose a particular star system, provided our knowledge of the cosmos becomes advanced enough one day."
"A final expedition."
"Exactly. And the more of these silent travelers journeying through space, the greater the chance that one day an extraterrestrial civilization might encounter one of them."
"Then our preserved bodies would become ambassadors of Earth."
"Or archaeological relics of a humanity long vanished."
"There is something genuinely fascinating about that."



"Imagine an alien intelligence discovering a nearly intact human being millions of years after our species has disappeared. It might be the first time they ever learned that Earth and its inhabitants had existed."
"In a way, that would be a very unusual form of survival."
"Not biological survival—but cultural survival. A monument to humanity drifting through the cosmos."
"And considerably less expensive than sending living crews to the stars."
"At least with today's technology. Of course, traveling alive between the stars would be far more wonderful. But until that becomes possible, preserved human bodies could already be on their way toward distant suns."
"Then they would, in a sense, become our silent envoys."
"Yes. Perhaps they would never be found. Or perhaps they would. The universe is vast enough for both possibilities."
"And if, one day, an alien civilization truly were to discover one of them, it would surely become one of the most extraordinary testimonies to human existence ever encountered."
"A rather strange idea."
"Perhaps. But many ideas that were once dismissed as pure fantasy eventually became reality. So who can say what possibilities the future may still hold?"


 

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