Reply #5: It depends on what you mean by "we". [View All]

[Lionel Mandrake]

A mere million years ago, our ancestors didn't look much like us. They were smaller, hairier, less intelligent, but physically stronger than we are. We would probably call them apes.

Likewise, our descendants (if any) a million years from now won't look much like us. They will constitute one or more species that are more intelligent than we are. The dominant species will probably keep the others (if any) in zoos.

Colonization of the galaxy should probably be left to the life forms that are fittest to survive space travel. These life forms will be created either by us or by our descendants. They may have integrated circuits rather than brains, electrical motors rather than muscles, etc. They could be designed to live for thousands of years. Such organisms would thrive in the vacuum of interstellar space. From their point of view, five billion years will be plenty of time to spread out from our planet and fill the galaxy with intelligent life that is derived from us in one way or another.

In the process, they may very well meet up with other forms of intelligent life. Won't that be a blast!