BIBLIOTECA DA HUMANIDADE
THE CHALLENGE
It is unclear what the reason will be, but the fact is that, sooner or later, a choice will have to be made: to colonize another planet or to see all of humanity—and everything it has built—disappear forever. A meteorite? A virus? Climate catastrophes? Artificial intelligence? Overpopulation and the wars it might cause? Or simply the Sun’s natural evolutionary process, which, once it has burned through all its available fuel, is expected to explode and engulf the planet, just as all stars of its class do.
With this in mind, scientists have been working on this potential migration for decades. Rockets, capsules, fuels, propulsion systems, food, alternative lifestyles… On the space station, it’s already possible to survive on very little water and recycle 90% of the available water supply (including urine and sweat). We already know how to grow lettuce and how to restore or preserve muscle mass that has deteriorated due to lack of movement and gravity. But despite these advances, the goal seemed almost unattainable, given that colonizing a planet requires a population of around 10,000 individuals. This is the minimum required to ensure the genetic diversity necessary to sustain the species and survive epidemics or other types of threats. Feeding and sustaining so many people in a confined space is the greatest challenge of all. To address this, scientists have focused on hibernation and minimizing travel time as much as possible.
The other challenge is deciding where to go. The star closest to the Sun is called Proxima Centauri. It is 4.2 light-years from Earth. It is a red dwarf, less turbulent and less bright than the Sun. Orbiting it, within a habitable zone, is a planet.
PROXIMA CENTAURI B
At 1.6 times the size of Earth and with a slightly larger radius, located much closer to its star, the planet Proxima Centauri b moves along with it without rotating on its own axis, just as the Moon does around Earth. As a result, one side of Proxima b always faces the star, making it extremely hot. The other side always faces space, making it extremely cold. Between them lies a temperate zone with a stable temperature. There is reason to believe that water and an atmosphere may exist in this region.
A NEW PATH
Recently, a bold project has been gaining momentum and attracting an ever-growing number of supporters among scientists. According to the researchers who have worked on it, we need to shift our focus and accept the idea that the journey will be a long one, rather than trying to make it short. Those who leave Earth will do so knowing that they will not land on Proxima b. It will be their children and grandchildren who will do so. Their role will have been to make the journey possible. That is all. To improve the outlook and increase the chances of success, there will be two temporary outposts: a colony on the Moon and another on Mars. Part of the group will work at the space station, while another part will remain at the outposts. The goal is to gain experience in extraterrestrial life, maintain equipment, produce resources, develop technological and social strategies—in short, to contribute to ensuring the long-term survival of the human species. In the future, these people will have been the pioneers—the sole ancestors of a species about which little can be predicted. Humans who will not be Earthlings, who will be born, grow up, and die on their way to a new world, their bodies transformed by the absence of gravity, connected to one another primarily through culture and history, not necessarily by blood. These people will know how to share and live with little, without waste or material possessions; they will eat differently and dress differently. They will have survived life in confinement and may live longer, because they will spend part of their lives in hibernation. This will be essential not only for managing resources but also for preserving physical and mental health, taking advantage of the diversity of ways of thinking, but without the stress of prolonged coexistence in confined spaces.
Upon arrival, the first planned step is to establish a school. This is both to organize the group’s daily life and to gather and share available knowledge by applying it to the problems we face. And so that we do not lose our connection with humanity on Earth, so that everything we have created does not disappear, and so that what we know can be applied during the implementation phase and beyond, this school will house a library, media center, and art gallery that is already being established. Books, films, music albums, paintings, and small sculptures. A small number of physical works that will serve as the first building blocks of the new humanity and will be transported and unpacked when the colony reaches its destination. To select this important collection, a public call for submissions has been launched. Those interested may participate by proposing one item—a book, a music album, a movie, or even a painting—whatever they believe best represents humanity. A contribution to the seed of a new species about which virtually nothing is known. What would you choose?
Does all this seem unlikely? Utopian? Not really… Perhaps not everyone knows this, but only the last paragraph of this text is fiction. The rest is based on real scientific findings and projects currently underway at space agencies around the world. As for the possibility of people agreeing to take part in a journey to another, distant world about which little is known… it wouldn’t be the first time. Africans with no resources and no knowledge have already left their continent to populate the planet. Different temperatures, different cuisines, different germs… They knew nothing about any of it.
They simply did what had to be done. Europeans have already boarded ships, certain they would never return, without knowing whether the sea would end in a waterfall into space or not. Submarines at the bottom of ocean abysses, expeditions to Antarctica, balloons in the stratosphere, people walking on the Moon. Humans are explorers… this would be just another step.
Your video response should be one minute long and include the following elements:
1. The name of the suggested item.
2. The author of this item.
3. A brief explanation of what it is about.
4. The reason why you chose it.
LEARN MORE
- The Breakthrough Initiatives https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/
- En quête d’une nouvelle Terre A 2017 French documentary directed by Duncan Bulling and produced by Lucy Haken, featuring Stephen Hawking and physicist Christophe Galfard. In the face of the threats looming over our planet, leading scientists come together to offer humanity a second chance—somewhere else in the universe.
- Stephen Hawking’s warnings: What he predicted for the future https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43408961
- Biosphere experience Since 2018, engineer Corentin de Chatelperron and architect Caroline Pultz have been designing and implementing experiments in complete self-sufficiency in hostile environments: four months on a floating platform in the Thai Sea, a desert in Mexico, and… a 30-square-meter apartment in the heart of Paris. In each project, the challenge is the same: to live in complete self-sufficiency, producing their own electricity, water, and food… without compromising their health. All materials, equipment, and knowledge developed and used in these experiments are available, along with the technical information needed to replicate them, on the project’s website: https: https://biosphere-experience.org/