Bringing Culture to Cosmos: Cultural Evolution, the Postbiological Universe, and SETI

Abstract

The Biological Universe (Dick, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996) analyzed the history of the extraterrestrial life debate, documenting how scientists have assessed the chances of life beyond Earth during the twentieth century. Here I propose another option—that we may in fact live in a postbiological universe, one that has evolved beyond flesh and blood intelligence to artificial intelligence (AI) and that is a product of cultural rather than biological evolution. Davies (Basic Books, New York: 51–55, 1995) and others have broached the subject, but the argument has not been given the attention it is due, nor has it been carried to its logical conclusion. This paper argues for the necessity of long-term thinking when contemplating the problem of intelligence in the universe. It provides arguments for a postbiological universe based on the likely age and lifetimes of technological civilizations and the overriding importance of cultural evolution as an element of cosmic evolution. Additionally, it describes the general nature of a postbiological universe and its implications for SETI.