Fernando Alcoforado*
This article aims to demonstrate that humanity must prepare itself to face not only the immediate threats to its survival such as the current deadly Coronavirus pandemic and others that may arise in the future and the catastrophic climate change that may occur from the middle of the 21st century, but also the future threats represented by the progressive increase in the distance from the Moon to Earth, the collision of asteroids on the planet Earth, the explosion of supernovae with the release of gamma radiation and X-rays, the collision of the Andromeda Galaxy with the Milky Way Galaxy where the solar system is located, the death of the Sun and the end of the Universe in which we live. Both immediate and future threats will not be successfully addressed without the advancement of science and technology that is the passport to humanity’s survival.
Current and future pandemics can be tackled with the development of R&D activities aimed at the production of antibiotics and vaccines, global climate change may be faced with the development of renewable energy production technologies and new means of transport that do not use fossil fuels , new production systems that contemplate the development of technologies for the recycling of materials, energy savings and the end of the emission of greenhouse gases, of new buildings with the development of technologies that contemplate energy savings, the planning of sustainable cities with the development of technologies capable of ensuring rationality in the occupation of land by buildings, the protection of the environment and the well-being of the population. Future threats from space will require ever-greater scientific and technological advances to ensure the survival of humanity, which are described in the following paragraphs.
The progressive increase in the distance from the Moon to Earth will be catastrophic for humanity when the Moon is 560 km away, which should occur within 4 billion years when the rotation of the planet should stop, the days will be longer (1152 hours instead the current 24 hours) and during the night, temperatures would kill everyone in the cold and, throughout the day, no one could stand the heat. On the coast, there would be extremely violent winds of 300 km / h. In terms of life, there would be almost nothing left, except super-resistant bacteria and worms. The drastic and global climatic changes, resulting from the disappearance of the tides and the destabilization of the Earth’s axis of rotation, would be the factors that would produce the most terrible consequences on terrestrial life (ALCOFORADO, Fernando. Why Moon is important to life on the Earth planet. Available on the website < https://www.academia.edu/41599322/WHY_MOON_IS_IMPORTANT_TO_LIFE_ON_THE_EARTH_PLANET>).
The Earth may be on a collision course with some giant asteroid that has the potential to annihilate humanity completely. Fear is by no means unfounded because these monsters exist in space and can hit Earth. In fact, the history of our planet is full of such impacts as what led to the end of the dinosaurs that, approximately 65 million years ago, disappeared from Earth as a result of a huge meteor that collided with the Earth’s surface and had a size that oscillated between 6 and 14 km developing at an incredible speed of 72,000 km / h, giving rise to a crater about 200 km in diameter, which is found in the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Gulf of Mexico. The force of the meteor’s impact would be such that it would completely disrupt the Earth’s crust in the affected region, launching the debris into space that would enter a low orbit and, as they fell, would destroy the entire surface. As if the scenario were not catastrophic enough, the destruction does not stop there: a firestorm would spread through the atmosphere and vaporize any form of life in its path. In just one day, the entire planet would become uninhabitable. Another threat from space concerns the explosions of supernovae, stars of greater mass than our Sun at the end of its existence that could exterminate life on Earth due to the release of enough gamma radiation and X-rays to heat the surface of our planet and make the atmosphere and oceans evaporate (ALCOFORADO, Fernando. Threats on life on Earth which come from space. Available on the website <https://www.academia.edu/40639064/THREATS_ON_LIFE_ON_EARTH_WHICH_COME_FROM_SPACE >). Many more threatening asteroids are being monitored by telescopes and other devices that make it possible to estimate the possibility of collisions with planet Earth. However, it is impossible to estimate the occurrence of supernova explosions at the end of the existence of massive stars.
The collision of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies could occur 4.5 billion years from now. NASA said the Earth and the solar system are not at risk of being destroyed, but the Sun will be “dragged” to a new region of the new galaxy result that can cause serious impacts on our planet. It is scientifically known that all life on Earth will be wiped out when our Sun reaches the end of its existence within 5 billion years by becoming a red giant that will swallow the Earth. Astronomers’ calculations indicate that when the Sun becomes a red giant, the diameter of the Sun on its equator will overtake the planet Mars, consuming all the rocky planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. The habitable zone in which our planet is located will disappear completely when the Sun migrates out of Earth’s orbit in about 1 billion years. And this will, in fact, be the end of planet Earth. The red giants are stars that are already in an advanced stage of their life and increase their mass considerably, due to the end of their hydrogen, generally reaching up to 8 times the mass of our Sun. When this happens, the solar system becomes a chaos and the Sun loses a tremendous amount of mass (ALCOFORADO, Fernando. The Sun and its importance to life on the planet Earth. Available on the website <https://www.academia.edu/41825338/THE_SUN_AND_ITS_IMPORTANCE_TO_LIFE_ON_THE_PLANET_EARTH> ).
The fate of the Universe is still unknown, because it depends critically on the curvature index k and the cosmological constant Λ. If the Universe were sufficiently dense, k would be equal to +1, which means that its average curvature is positive and the Universe will end up colliding in a Big Crunch (The Universe contracts by uniting all matter and energy in a single Great Black Hole) possibly starting a new Universe in a Big Bounce. On the other hand, if the Universe were insufficiently dense, k would be equal to 0 or -1 and the Universe would expand forever, cooling and finally reaching the Big Freeze (The Universe freezes in total darkness) with the thermal death of the Universe. Recent data suggest that the expansion rate of the Universe is not decreasing, as initially expected, but increasing. If this expansion rate continues indefinitely, the Universe will leave only residual heat and black holes, possibly reaching a Big Rip (The Universe will have expanded so much that even atoms that form planets and galaxies will start to disintegrate, generating the biggest apocalypse of all) [WIKIPEDIA. Universo (Universe). Available on the website <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universo>]. In any of these scenarios, the existence of humanity would be threatened. In any case, all life in the Universe will disappear forever.
All of this means that we will face the death of our species with the threats described above, unless humanity promotes sufficient scientific and technological advancement to overcome them. Humanity will have to find scientific and technological solutions to face the problems resulting from the increasing the distance of the Moon in relation to the Earth, to avoid the collision of large asteroids on the planet Earth, to find a way out for humanity not to be on Earth when the to occur collision between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies and when to happen the death of the Sun and also to survive with the occurrence of any of the scenarios foreseen for the end of the Universe.
In order to face the problems resulting from the the increasing the distance of the Moon in relation to the Earth, humanity could seek its survival by implanting space colonies on Mars, Titan (Saturn’s moon), Callisto (Jupiter’s moon) and the dwarf planet Pluto in the solar system possible escape locations, all of them with numerous obstacles that would require great scientific and technological advancement to overcome them. To avoid the collision of large asteroids on planet Earth, humanity should use powerful rockets to deflect them. Before the Andromeda galaxies collided with the Milky Way, mankind would have to seek its escape to a planet in a closer galaxy like the Greater Dog Dwarf Galaxy located 25,000 light years away. Before the death of the Sun, humanity should leave the solar system and reach a new planet in another planetary system that is habitable for human beings. This planet could be the “Proxima b” orbiting the closest star to the Sun that is part of the Alpha Centauri system. With the end of the Universe in which we live, humanity should seek a way out, that is, a parallel universe, for humanity to escape and survive any of the catastrophic scenarios.
Currently, humanity would be able to prevent the collision of large asteroids on the planet Earth because it has powerful rockets capable of hitting them. However, it does not have the resources to implant space colonies on Mars, Titan (Saturn’s moon), Callisto (Jupiter’s moon) and on the dwarf planet Pluto. Mankind also lacks the scientific and technological resources to seek its escape to a planet in a closer galaxy such as the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, to reach another habitable planet, “Proxima b”, orbiting the star closest to the Sun member of the Alpha Centauri system, much less seek a way out to a parallel universe before the end of our Universe.
If the scientific and technological challenge is immense to escape to a planet in a galaxy like the Dwarf Galaxy of the Greater Dog located 25,000 light years away, to reach a new planet in another planetary system that is habitable for humans like the “Next b “orbiting the closest star to the Sun that is part of the Alpha Centauri system, the challenge would be even greater in abandoning our Universe and heading towards parallel universes. According to Michio Kaku, an American theoretical physicist, professor and co-creator of the string field theory, the main problem in abandoning our Universe and going to parallel universes is whether we will have enough resources to build machines capable of accomplishing such a difficult feat and if the laws of physics allow the existence of these machines [KAKU, Michio. Mundos paralelos (Parallel worlds). Rio: Editora Rocco Ltda., 2005].
Kaku says that humanity will have billions of years ahead to find the solution that will allow us to abandon our Universe towards parallel universes. Kaku says that for long-distance interplanetary missions, physicists will have to find more exotic forms of rocket propulsion if they expect to reach distances hundreds of light-years away as current chemical rockets are limited by the maximum velocity of exhaust gases. He says that the development of a solar / ion engine could provide a new way of propelling rockets between the stars. One possible project would be to create a fusion reactor, a rocket that extracts hydrogen from interstellar space and liquefies it by releasing unlimited amounts of energy in the process.
For humanity to escape to parallel universes, Kaku says it is necessary to overcome a series of great obstacles. The first barrier would be to complete a theory of everything when we would be able to verify the consequences of using advanced technologies. On the theory of everything, it should be noted that modern physics has two basic scientific laws: quantum physics and general relativity. These two scientific laws represent radically different fields of study, for while quantum physics studies the small objects of nature, relativity studies nature on the scale of planets, galaxies and the universe as a whole. The problem arises when it is necessary to combine the two theories, for example, to explain the behavior of black holes or the Big Bang, as they end up diverging. Einstein spent part of his life developing his Unified Field Theory, which would be a model capable of explaining the 4 fundamental forces of nature: gravitational force (the mutual attraction between bodies due to their masses), electromagnetic force (the attraction or repulsion between bodies due to their electrical charges and / or their magnetization), weak nuclear force (force developed between the leptons and hadrons responsible for the emission of electrons in some radioactive substances) and strong nuclear force (force that maintains nuclear cohesion and the union between quarks). Now, scientists have continued Einstein’s work and the result is string theory.
String theory is an attempt to unify the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the 4 fundamental forces of nature, which is why it is known as the Theory of Everything. It is seen by physicists as the main theory that can explain the entire universe, from the emergence of the Big Bang to the possible end of the universe. According to string theory, quarks (protons neutrons) would be formed by small strands of energy that could be compared to small vibrant strings in which the entire universe would be formed by these small strings, which according to their length and vibration, define the characteristics of each particle and explain the great diversity of the universe or multiverse that considers that our Universe is not unique and that more than one universe emerged during the Big Bang. Some scientists claim that there can be an almost infinite number of parallel universes, each with its own physical laws.
In addition to the theory of everything, Kaku proposes to find wormholes and white holes that are dimensional gates and cosmic strings that would make it possible to reach parallel universes, send probes through a black hole that would function as an emergency hatch to leave our Universe, build a black hole for purposes experiments, create a baby universe with a false vacuum in the laboratory, create immense atom colliders despite major engineering problems, create implosion mechanisms using laser beams, build a bend-boosting machine with the ability to cross immense stellar distances, use the negative energy of the compressed states with the use of laser beams that can be used to generate negative matter to open and stabilize wormholes, wait for quantum transitions to escape to another universe and, finally, as a last hope, with the fusion of our consciousness with our robotic creations using advanced DNA engineering, nanotechnology and robotics.
Artificial intelligence can make a decisive contribution to scientific and technological advances in order to provide humanity with the resources it needs to face its survival problems. There is the possibility of creating machines that are more intelligent than us, called artificial superintelligences. If artificial brains ever surpass the intelligence of human brains, then this new superintelligence can become very powerful. Humanity’s fate would become dependent on the actions of these superintelligent machines. The idea is that everything that occurs in the brain, and even in the Universe, comes from information and its transfer: matter only supports the storage and propagation of information. If that is the case, it may even be a matter of time before the first artificial superintelligence is created, perhaps even before 2045.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 80, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is author of the books Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria) and Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019).
Site Title 