The immortality consequence

Thank you for listening to Tech Stuff, today is April 30th, 2208. Because of the women we’re going to talk to today I’ve been alive 108 years and I look damn good. Today’s story is about Doctor Gretta Dunbar, the youngest person to open her own lab. At 20, she started Dunbar Labs, which made some of the biggest discoveries in centuries. By the age of 35, she made Time Magazine's person of the year three times, published many research papers, and launched her own podcast. Dunbar Labs was the first lab to clone a human being, perfect cryogenics, and create mechanical body parts with skin that looks and feels like the real thing.

In 2133, Gretta and her team tackled a challenge many labs couldn't solve. They discovered a way to transfer a person’s memories to a microchip and install it into an android, which could either look like them or have any appearance they desired. This synthetic skin felt lifelike and even had sensory receptors, allowing the person to experience all senses. The process begins with an operation to install a chip into the brain and a port; the chip distributes hundreds of tiny wires to the nervous system. When the person is plugged into the device, it takes the memories from the chip and transfers them to the device. This redundancy ensures that if the transfer from the chip to the robot isn't completed, there is a backup. Additionally, if the chip gets damaged, the memories from the last syncing are preserved. The person can also choose to erase memories if they wish. Once a week, the person brings the device to Dunbar Labs to upload the memories to the chip that will be installed into their new body; they are then given another device to take home and repeat the process.

The device underwent rigorous testing on hundreds of people; these beta testers had chips and ports implanted into their brains, which were monitored for two years before U.S. regulators approved them for public use.

By 2140, over 2 billion people’s clones were successfully implanted. The procedure was covered by insurance, making it accessible to anyone who wanted it. Some wealthier individuals paid up to 10 billion dollars to have the chip implanted into their synthetic bodies to avoid aging. Their original selves were rocketed to a space station where they lived happily and comfortably.

Not everyone was granted the chance to become immortal. Criminals and people with mental illnesses were excluded, as these conditions would carry over to their clone when implanted. If a person committed any major crimes while immortalized, the chip in their head was erased, and their bodies were harvested for parts.

Billions of people from around the world wanted immortality, but they had to travel to the U.S. to ensure the technology was used ethically and performed to the highest standards.

The population now exceeds 25 billion, leading to overpopulation. The government debated how to solve this issue and decided to only allow people who were willing to leave Earth after the procedure was done. The people of the world didn’t like this resolution; they didn’t think it was right to make new people leave the planet, leaving their friends and family because they wanted to live forever. There were protests at Dunbar Labs in every country, with people saying it’s not right to make people do this.

Gretta made a live announcement that was posted on every communicator around the world.

A whistling sound came over everyone’s communicator, then Gretta started to speak.

“My friends, I wanted to explain why this is necessary, even though it’s not fair. We have 25 billion people on Earth right now, and resources are getting low. If we keep letting people live forever and stay on Earth, we’ll lose all resources in 40 years. Yes, those of you who had the procedure done will live forever, but the human race will be extinct as we know it. We need to find another planet to live on, and those of you taking the journey will be the first to step foot on an alien planet and help future generations live on. If we could cut the population in half, that would leave 80 years for the people who stay. I’ll be on the last ship, and some scientists are working on something that will hopefully replenish the Earth, and I’m developing a way to spread it, but it’ll be close. It’ll take many years to heal the planet and thousands of years for the ecosystem to heal and for the Earth to return to its former beauty. People who have already undergone the process may stay, but I hope some of you will leave. The final ships will also have cryogenic pods for the humans who want to go; otherwise, we’ll send a message back when we find another planet, and the nanobots will receive this message and send it to the ships. Just know, you might be on the ships in stasis pods for many years, maybe even centuries, depending on how quickly we find it. We will also continue building space stations just in case the rejuvenation of the planet fails. I hope you understand; it’s for the best of our species. Thank you.”

After her announcement, people (both human and immortal) signed up to take the voyage into the unknown. In just a year almost ten billion people signed up for the journey, giving Earth a chance…if everything comes together in time.

***

Ten years later, the first ships were ready to launch, bringing two billion people with them. It was a somber time for both the people staying and the ones leaving. Two space stations were also built, and over a billion people were living on them. Day and night, ships were coming from and going to Earth, with people going to work, visiting friends and family, or just vacationing.

Communications between family and friends on the ships, Earth, or space stations were high, but as the ships got further from Earth, it took longer for communications to travel to and from, so things slowed down a bit.

It took over eight years, but the voyagers finally found a class M planet. They named it Earth Two, and it was beautiful, there were many animals, plants and trees that were indigenous to the planet and it had three moons and one sun. They set up colonies and cities, the people worked together, and they promised not to take advantage of this planet like their ancestors did Earth. During this time on Earth, two more ships were sent off, and three more stations were built. Doctor Jordan also developed teleportation, which led to replication, so the use of precious resources went down to less than ten percent. The plans were sent to Earth Two, where the engineers built one, then they were able to synthesize parts to make others. In just two years, every house and every business had them, which gave Earth time to replenish.

In 2088, there was a terrorist act that blew up Dunbar Labs, killing thousands of humans. Since the servers holding people's memories were underground, they weren't harmed, so people who were immortal and those who had their memories backed up to have the procedure done in death were destroyed but came back. There were still a couple of hundred people who worked there that didn't want to be immortal and died. Dunbar Labs were now also built underground and had high security. The terrorists were found, their memories erased from the servers, and they were recycled.

By 2091, there were only five billion people living on Earth, but billions more teleported down every day. People were happy on both Earths, and both flourished. Earth One was regenerating nicely, the air quality was good, plants and trees were growing, water was clean, and unused buildings were torn down.

On Earth Two, cities were growing, and space stations were built, with about 35 percent of the people living on them.

To this day, people are thriving, and life is good.