All language subtitles for Year.Million.S01E05.Energy.Beyond.Earth.1080p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-NTb_track3_eng

Narrator: In the deep future
you have merged with ai.

You can communicate
telepathically.

You can even choose to
live inside your computer

if you want to.

And while technology will bring
extraordinary and unimaginable

advances to the evolution
of the human body,

nanobots won't be what protects
you from the consequences of

accelerated global warming.

Nor can it protect you from an
extinction event like this one.

The only way to truly ensure
humanity's survival is to

imagine a
course where we evolve as

an interplanetary species.

This is the story of how we
pioneer the tech that will

bring us to outer space.

It's the deep future.

Your body, gone.

You're all computer,
all the time.

Your brain is way
more powerful than

even a billion
supercomputers.

Jobs, food, language, water,
even traditional thought,

all of humanity's building
blocks, all that's done.

And you are immortal.

Squirming in your chair yet?

You should be.

This isn't science fiction.

Today's visionary thinkers say
it's a strong probability that

this is what your world
is going to look like.

Tonight, they'll guide you
toward that spectacular future,

and we'll see how one
family navigates it,

one invention at a time.

This is the story
of your future.

This is the road
to year million.

The year million:
A future period,

not exactly a million
years from now,

but rather a time when
man and society will be so

technologically advanced, it's
nearly impossible to imagine.

Michio Kaku: It stretches the
imagination to contemplate what

the laws of physics will allow
a million years from now.

Narrator: Let me put
it to you this way.

Your day-to-day life will
surpass anything you've seen on

Star Trek.

In this far-off time,

earth is just one of the
planet's we'll inhabit.

Peter Diamandis:
Stephen Hawking said,

I don't think humanity has a
future unless we go into space.

The danger from nuclear
war or asteroid strike,

or existential threats
of those types, you know,

all of our eggs
are in one basket.

We need to diversify.

Narrator: And diversify means
we must adapt or we will die.

Baratunde Thurston: You know,
the planet's kind of falling

apart, we're dying, like
disease, antibiotics,

all this stuff is not
going the greatest.

Negin Farsad: There's a bunch of
people who have their finger on

the nuclear codes and they
are very dangerous people so a

nuclear holocaust seems like a
really like possible reason that

we'd have to leave earth.

Narrator: But to
get off the planet,

we're going to need to
get to space and fast.

That is going to require
collaboration on a global scale,

the likes of which we
have never seen before.

With earth buckling under
an exploding population and

enormous energy demands, take
comfort that the seeds of a

revolution are sprouting a
paradigm shift in how we care

for our planet.

We're also looking
toward the heavens,

breathing new life and
a ton of money into an

amped up space race

led by an adventurous
breed of billionaire space

pioneers who all want to be
the first to plant their flag

on Mars and world's beyond.

It's about survival
at all costs,

whether it's on the
planet or off-world.

So let me show you the road
to humanity's survival.

First, we'll need to buy time.

Our world is full of stuff,
but in the future our stuff

will become alive,
programmable.

Every single object on the
planet will be fully adaptable,

and able to fight back
against any natural disaster

that could imperil us.

But even so, the planet can
only sustain us for so long.

So to save the human race,
we're not only going to have

to find ourselves a
new rock to live on,

we'll have to terraform it.

As we humans evolve, whether
we live forever or we climb

into a computer, we are going
to need a lot more energy.

So we'll need to build a
power soaking megastructure

called the Dyson sphere.

The Dyson sphere will
surround the sun,

absorb and store all its
energy and power our technology

throughout the solar system.

This influx of energy will
allow us to launch ourselves

into the great beyond,
exploring outer space.

And finding resources to live
on throughout the galaxies.

And when we voyage out there,
you know what that means:

We could run into aliens.

Will they be friend or foe?

To be honest, we
really don't know.

Once we've taken control of all
the energy and matter in our

solar system, our society
will mature even further.

Becoming so advanced, that
scientists and Sci-Fi alike can

barely bring into focus
what our world will like.

And before we get
to that wildest,

most far out future scenario,
let's start here on earth with

the transformation that is
happening all around us.

Imagine you are an
engineer trying to crack

the code for our survival.

You accidentally
drop a cup, it shatters.

But then it reforms,
into something else,

something you need, like
the model of the wind turbine

you've been sketching.

Then, scale way on up, and you
can see how it becomes the tech

that will save our coastlines
from imminent peril.

Oscar: Did you hear
about Manhattan?

Eva: Yeah, it washed away
in the latest storm surge.

Oscar: Watch.

Solar power.

Enough to power half
of the east coast.

Now in bad weather conditions,
it becomes a wind turbine.

Which in turn becomes
a sea defense,

capable of reacting to any
force that comes its way.

The stronger the wave,
the stronger the wall.

Eva: How?

Oscar: Programmable matter.

It works.

Eva: This could
buy us some time?

Narrator: So how do you get
from a broken cup to having a

world full of objects
that can morph at the

flick of a switch?

Well, Sci-Fi has
already imagined it.

Rose Eveleth: The Sci-Fi that i
think is actually the closest on

this is big hero 6.

Where they have all these
little tiny nano metal thingies,

and then you can
tell it to assemble.

George Dvorsky: This matter
could basically become

super-flexible and take on any
form, any shape that it desires.

Anders Sandberg:
Normal matter is dumb.

I can't tell a silicon chip to
turn into a window or a wall.

But what if it was composed
of smart machines that could

respond to signals and
reorganize themselves.

Well in that case, we
might have matter that you

could actually program.

Narrator: Welcome to
programmable matter.

Charles Soule: At
a certain point,

when you have these technology
levels energy and matter become

very fluid things.

Like a rock is not a rock.

A rock is, is raw
materials and fuel.

It can become kind of
anything you want it to be.

Skylar Tibbits: We know that
we have outdated and failing

infrastructure,
roads, pipes, Bridges,

and that's going to require
an investment in innovation.

Because we don't just want
to build it the way it was.

Narrator: At the
self assembly lab,

scientists are working on
creating matter that can

transform itself into the
shape of anything you need

in any given moment.

Skylar Tibbits: Our
infrastructure in the future

should not just be
over-engineered and

bulky and static.

We've focused on
making materials that

can transform physically.

Narrator: You heard that right.

Programmable matter will make
our roads and buildings tighten

during an earthquake
so they won't crumble.

It will make cities able to
withstand the strong winds and

rising tides of a hurricane.

Once buildings are built,
they will never break.

Skylar Tibbits: There's a
number of examples that

we could imagine.

The roof can transform based on
wind or sun or rain and become

stronger, flexible, more
porous, more waterproof.

You know, adapting materials
can adapt to all sorts of crazy

climate and weather
fluctuations.

Narrator: It's as if all the
materials in our world today

are asleep and in the
future they will wake up.

Yet, while
programmable matter will

be a game-changer,

there is a universe where
it becomes just a band-aid.

The fury of mother nature
might be too strong,

even for an artificially
intelligent climate crusader

like our future daughter, Jess.

Jess: We ran into some
obstacles in the engineering of

the new bio-terrains.

We knew we'd have to flood
some of this coastline,

but we had to decide between
losing the city or losing

everything on the peninsula.

Narrator: The problem
with resources is that

they are finite.

Even in the future, we
will never have enough of

them to go around.

And when we decide who gets
them, there will be casualties.

Jess: You okay, dad?

Oscar: Yeah.

Narrator: Jess was hoping that
programmable matter could help

stop rising water levels.

But she's finding out the
hard way that it can't keep

us safe forever.

Whatever we do, at some
point, the earth will become

uninhabitable and that is when
we'll have to leave the earth.

We'll have to find a planet
that's kind of a fixer-upper.

A place that humans
can terraform.

Which means we will manipulate
its ecosystem to make it

habitable for us.

But making an entire planet
bend to our will is going to be

anything but easy.

Narrator: In the far future,
natural disasters and some kind

of horrific extinction
event will make the

earth completely
uninhabitable.

So we will need a plan "b."

Michio Kaku: As an insurance
policy against asteroid impacts,

against super
volcanoes and ice ages,

I think it's a good idea to
have a spare planet out there,

in case we have doomsday
on the planet earth.

Narrator: Good idea.

But after we tackle the
challenge of finding a spare

planet, we'll need to bring
her up to human specs.

And that my friends
will require some

next-level engineering,
which we call terraforming.

Peter Diamandis: Our toolset for
actually engineering is becoming

stronger and stronger.

And of course, our toolset 30
years from now will be far more

advanced, because we'll
have quantum computing that

understands how to look
at natural systems.

We'll have AI to help
us monitor things.

We'll have nanotechnology.

So the idea of actually
terraforming a planet is going

to be, I don't want to use
this term, but you know,

quite simple.

Narrator: Simple
enough for you to say,

but for the rest of us it
still feels like we're going

to be building a pyramid
from scratch, in space.

Chuck Nice: Space is a
hostile place, people.

It's a hostile place.

Do I want to go live there?

No, I like it right here on
earth where over a few billion

years it has made things
extremely comfortable for me,

and that's what I want.

Narrator: If it's comfort you
want, it's comfort you'll get.

In the future we'll be able to
modify a planet's atmosphere,

temperature, and ecology, and
we'll also change ourselves to

ensure that we not only
survive, but adapt and thrive.

Negin Farsad: I'm going
to be honest with you.

In terms of traveling
to other planets,

I'm not a huge fan of the idea
because to put on a mask to

breathe just doesn't sound
like a fun vacation to me.

Narrator: The early days
of adjusting to a partially

terraformed planet
will probably be

a bit uncomfortable.

The first steps usually are;
Just look at our series,

"Mars" or "the martian".

But believe it or not,
the red planet is one of the

closest to
being move-in ready.

George Dvorsky: What's exciting
about Mars is that it's within

this happy zone in terms of
its distance from the sun.

It has critical ingredients on
there that we can work with in

terms of water and oxygen.

Matt Mira: And it only takes 19
minutes for a radio signal to

get back to earth so I would
never feel too disconnected from

humanity and where it started,
and it seems like a good size

and it seems like a good
place to start so I would get

my ass to Mars.

Narrator: Great.

But how are we going
to get Matt to Mars?

Let me take you a step further
and show you one path to

terraforming the red planet.

First, we will beam energy
at Mars' polar ice caps,

heating the planet,
and melting the ice.

The melted ice will
flow along the surface,

and evaporate into the air.

This will create a greenhouse
effect, warming the atmosphere.

And it needs to warm a lot.

The average temperature
currently on the planet

is minus 80 fahrenheit.

Not exactly balmy.

But eventually, the climate
will heat up and the first

colonists will use the water
to irrigate crops.

We'll have food, water,
energy, and land,

a foundation for sustaining
future human life.

Rose Eveleth: It would be
a huge endeavor, right?

Just the engineering
question of getting.

I mean, we don't send that
many people to space, right?

Um, the idea of taking
humans, plural, up into space,

I mean that is just an
incredible amount of energy and

resources and planning,
and all of that.

Narrator: Thinking about
re-programming a whole planet

seems impossible.

But mankind has been moving
into hostile environments

and making them habitable
for thousands of years.

Look what happened to a small
barren rock in the middle of

the Atlantic ocean after
the father of evolution

made a pit stop.

Sam weber: It's
like another world.

When you come from the uk
or some other green nation,

you land in the airfield amongst
the lava and the cinders,

I've never been anywhere
quite like it before.

In the 1830s, Charles Darwin
visited ascension on his voyage

around the world on the beagle.

It was very young, lots of
barren, volcanic lava flows.

There was no natural
running fresh water.

Narrator: When Darwin arrived,
Ascension Island might as well

have been Mars.

He could breathe air there,
but there was no edible food,

and no fresh water.

It was not habitable for
humans in the long term.

Sam weber: Obviously, when
Darwin would visit this issue of

trying to get water and
get food was the chief concern

of the time, for the
military that were based here.

Darwin would have
seen that himself.

And after he returned to the
uk, the idea of vegetating green

mountain to try and
increase the water supply,

was gradually put together with
his great friend, Joseph hooker,

who later became the
director of the royal

botanic gardens at kew.

And over the latter part
of the 19th century,

they began bringing in
hundreds of species of plants,

to vegetate the island.

Narrator: Darwin and hooker
sent a Noah's ark of plants and

trees, chosen to
transform the island,

and to create fresh water.

And we'll have to send a
similar care package in order

to terraform a
place like Mars.

Sam weber: Some species were
brought in to create pasture for

cows, uh, and sheep.

Other species were
brought in as wind breaks.

And some, like this huge ficus
tree we can see behind us,

were brought in to strip the
moisture out of these mists

blowing across the
mountain, uh,

which is dripping
down on us now.

And uh, increase the
water supply in the

Wells that they dug.

Narrator: After two centuries,
Ascension Island has been

transformed, and Darwin
and hooker's attempt at

proto-terraforming the island
for humans was a success.

But, we can't ignore the
flipside to terraforming a

barren rock, with its
own native ecology.

Sam weber: Well this
area where we are now in,

in the mid-elevation regions
would have been incredibly

barren when, when hooker and
Darwin first visited the island.

Uh, much of the
low-lying plain around,

around coastal regions were
coated in lava and ash fields.

The introductions that Darwin
and hooker and others carried

out fundamentally changed the
ecology of Ascension Island.

Introduced species,
by their nature, they,

they lack the normal controls
that were keeping them in check

in their native habitats.

So once they arrive,
they often run amok, uh,

and can't exist in balance with
the ecosystems they invade.

Narrator: On Mars or
ascension or anywhere, really,

when you change an ecosystem,

there will be
winners and losers.

On ascension, humans
made the island livable,

but at the expense of
the natural habitat.

Sam weber: Hooker knew what the
consequences of his actions were

likely to be, but hooker
obviously made a value judgment

at that time, securing water and
food was far more important than

any kind of modern
conservation imperative.

So he pressed ahead.

It's always going to
be a problem when,

when people's needs come
into conflict with wildlife.

Narrator: What's the extinction
of a few plants compared with

the extinction of humanity?

Right?

Well, not really.

That's too short sighted.

What creature was
eating those ferns?

And what predator was
eating the creature that

was eating those ferns?

Will they all go extinct?

And in the end, will those
extinctions lead to our own?

This likely won't be
a problem on Mars.

As far as we know, there
are no lifeforms there.

But what if we need to
terraform someplace else?

Some futurists think option
"b" might be Jupiter's moon,

europa.

Why?

Because it looks like it could
be covered in water and water

means the possibility of life.

Eva's scientific colleagues
are getting ready to set up a

colony there and they're
putting the hard sell on

her to join them.

If europa is incubating life
in its waters, shouldn't Eva,

a geneticist by trade,
be rushing to work there?

Eva: Why not just port there?

It's not exactly welcoming
to biological life.

Well, apart from the
biological forms in its oceans.

Woman: Exactly.

This is a geneticist's dream.

Man: This is the only other
non-terrestrial life we've found

in our galaxy so far.

Man: We've been fantasizing
about this for decades.

Eva: But what, what about
the radiation on europa,

and the temperatures?

Woman: We're not saying
there aren't risks.

Man: We're saying,
it's worth it.

Eva: I need to be here.

Man: We'll call you
when we get there.

Woman: Bye.

Narrator: If we've learned
anything from Ascension Island,

colonizing a place that
has existing life forms

raises a lot of challenges
both practical and ethical.

In another echo of
Ascension Island,

when we terraform europa,
we run the risk of potentially

destroying mirco-organisms
that could eventually evolve

into intelligent life.

Annalee Newitz: We're creatures
that evolved in the water,

and that's why europa
seems so interesting,

because we're fairly certain
that there is a massive ocean

underneath a crust of ice.

Unfortunately, the only way we
can find life is by drilling

through the ice and putting
a robot in the water.

So you know, uh,
what could go wrong?

N.K. Jemisin: We're going
to this other world,

and even with the
best of intentions,

we might end up doing
kind of tremendous harm.

Annalee Newitz: In the movie
2010, the sequel to 2001,

there's an often-quoted moment
where the aliens say to the

humans, all these worlds
are yours except europa.

Attempt no landings there.

Narrator: Not only could
we end life on europa,

one wrong move and
europa could end us.

A planet with life means
biological hazards

left and right.

Forget little green
men with ray guns,

what we should really fear is
a virus or germ that our bodies

can't handle, an invasive
species that invades us.

Martin Rees: If we found
life, even simple life,

we ought to not let it
contaminate us on earth.

So we would treat any uh,
planet which turned out to have

life on it, rather as
we treat the antarctic,

as a sort of
natural wilderness.

Annalee Newitz: One
of my hopes is that,

as we move to other
planets or moons,

that we always consider our work
to be not turning it into earth,

but creating little pockets
of habitable space for humans,

and huge areas that are
just the natural habitat.

Because we don't want to make
the mistake that we've made on

earth so many times, where we
go into a habitat that doesn't

contain humans, and just
wreck all of the creatures

that live there.

Narrator: And europa is
the most likely place we

would run into that life.

And like any colonial
civilization,

keeping the settlers safe
is critical to our survival

as a species.

Eva's been examining the genes
of europa's settler remotely,

since they landed.

And it looks like
there's a problem.

Eva: Oh, stop.

Oscar: What?

Eva: It's mutated.

Oscar: Is that bad?

Eva: That's catastrophic.

It's an extremely delicate
ecosystem which we're trying to

leave unscathed.

And if we don't
contain it, we.

Okay, compose message
to the europa colony.

Status, urgent.

Please implement, stat.

For your safety and the
well-being of europa.

Stay safe, guys.

Who knew it would be this
easy to change the world, huh?

Narrator: Survival deeper and
deeper into the cosmos won't

always be welcoming.

Even though the human race
will ultimately thrive,

there may be casualties
along the way.

Space, it's
dangerous out there!

We've left earth,
terraformed Mars,

and encountered life in the
depth's of europa's crust.

All that space exploration
and travel doesn't come

without a cost.

And much of that cost
will likely need to be

paid in energy!

And we'll get that energy
from a huge megastructure

called a Dyson sphere...

That we will build
around the sun.

Narrator: If we've
learned anything so far,

it's that making the solar
system habitable for future

humans is no small feat.

Our existence will become so
advanced and complex that we

are going to need energy
on a level that our brains

have only begun to imagine.

Brian Greene: As we look
at technological growth,

we find that it's
increasing exponentially.

But of course, then the
power needs are going up

exponentially, too.

So you can look into
the future and say,

where are we ever going to
muster the kind of power that

we'll need in the far future?

We can't get it just
on planet earth.

So you go to a nearby object
that has enough power to meet

your needs, which
would be the sun.

Charles Soule: Every star is
potentially a source of energy,

every star in the sky is
something that we could use

within our civilization
to advance ourselves.

Rose Eveleth: If we had the
ability to get all of the energy

of our sun and use it, we would
solve so many conflicts that are

existing right now.

There wouldn't be the
need to drill for oil,

there wouldn't be the
need to burn coal.

Narrator: Drilling for oil and
burning coal will seem like the

stuff of cave men.

When we harness the
power of the sun,

the once limited
resource of energy will

now become near unlimited.

We'll have one less
thing to fight wars over,

and our ever-expanding populace
will always be able to keep the

lights on, indefinitely.

Enter the Dyson sphere.

Brian Greene: A Dyson sphere is
an idea that Freeman Dyson put

forward a long time ago.

And the idea simply is, you've
got a star out there, this big,

burning nuclear furnace,
150 million kilometers away.

Why not encase it in a
big sphere, if you will,

that can capture all the
energy that otherwise would

just stream off into space.

Annalee Newitz: So you literally
build a shell around the sun,

and live on the
inside of the shell.

And that way, you can suck up
every single possible photon and

convert it into energy
for your civilization.

Baratunde Thurston:
Our creativity,

married to technology, will
find new sources of energy,

and we'll be able to harness
power from the sun in a way that

we couldn't imagine yet.

Chuck Nice: So fear not, people.

It's okay.

I'm lying.

I'm scared to death.

Narrator: Building something
as big and complicated as the

Dyson sphere is a little scary.

But what will our solar
powered civilization look like?

Will we even still
have human forms?

Some futurists thinks the Dyson
sphere will be used to power up

the metaverse, the real
life matrix computer world

we may all eventually
live inside of.

Charles Soule: And we're
living inside this box,

orbiting the sun, all
of human consciousness,

all of us put together in this
beautiful puddle of minds.

It sounds like,
it's magic, right?

It's when magic and science
become kind of the same thing.

Narrator: Whether we will be
human bodies or human code

we're going to
need big energy,

and big science to make
a Dyson sphere because

it's just so big.

Current human life uses about
15 trillion watts of power.

A Dyson sphere
could be able to extract

4 times 10 to the
26 watts of power.

That's 26 zeros after the one.

Think about that for a moment.

26.

Still going.

Rose Eveleth: I mean, just
like the scale at which

this exists, right.

The, if, this is bigger
than a death star.

This is bigger than like, you
know, like that's no moon, no,

that's no sun, like it's huge.

Narrator: The Dyson
sphere would be enormous,

a gigantic globe that would
include not only the earth,

but every planet
between us and the sun.

The Dyson sphere would be
capable of powering all of the

tech inside of it,
and even outside of it.

Remember that colony
we set up on europa?

It may be outside
the Dyson sphere,

but it's still using it
as a giant super battery.

So how are we going to
start the biggest construction

job ever attempted in the
history of the known universe?

The Dyson sphere is 600
million times bigger than the

surface of earth, so that
means we need more matter than

we have on this planet.

We will have to find
what we need out in space,

from other planets
and on asteroids,

which are chock full
of iron and other metals.

Rose Eveleth: Asteroid mining
is the next big thing in space.

I mean, they're already, NASA
is building big nets to catch

asteroids, to mine them.

Charles Soule: If we can
just, like, bring, like,

asteroid mining online and,
and can just access all of that

stuff out there, then we could
build an entirely new society.

Narrator: But there's a
potential wrinkle with mining

asteroids: Who
owns these huge,

potentially
lucrative gold mines?

Whoever gets there first.

Peter Diamandis: And some of
the asteroids we have targeted

are half a kilometer in size,
and they're on the open market,

trillion-dollar assets.

Rose Eveleth: We've already
had a couple of political

fights about the moon, right.

We need the moon.

If somebody messes up the
moon, it's a big problem.

So there's already sort of
treaties about how the moon is

kind of off-limits.

But asteroids are not.

And so I think that we're going
to see some really interesting

geopolitical conflicts
over asteroids.

Narrator: Besides asteroids,
we can also plunder the

resources of a few planets.

George Dvorsky:
Mercury and Venus.

These planets are dead,
there's no life on it,

they really serve no purpose
and it'll be exceptionally

difficult to terraform them.

Mercury, in particular.

So why not use that
mass for our needs?

Narrator: It's a solar
system-wide renovation.

Here's how it will work.

First we'll build a factory
on the surface of Mercury.

Robots will melt
and manufacture materials

for solar panels,

that will help power even
more and more production.

Next, we launch these
solar panels into space,

position them in place
around the sun to form the

massive Dyson sphere.

Anders Sandberg: So you would
start by putting an automated

factory on the surface.

Solar powered, it churns out
robots to dig up material,

melt it together to make more
solar panels and more robots and

more mining equipment.

After a while, you've covered
much of the surface of Mercury

with these factories.

Then we start making launch
devices to launch solar panels

into space.

Narrator: We'll have access
to nearly unlimited energy

and this floating
sphere will allow production

to speed up exponentially.

George Dvorsky: You'll start to
see the entire sun enveloped by

this massive bubble
of solar panels.

And, from an outside observer,
the sun will largely have been

extinguished, because
now, inside that zone,

we're capturing all of the
solar energy available,

through the Dyson sphere, to
be able to power it and supply,

you know, our civilization
with its energy needs.

Chuck Nice: Hopefully we will
have, I'm going to say it,

flying cars.

Narrator: I know, it does seem
like this giant sphere is just

as fantastical as a flying car.

But it's the most logical and
efficient use of a star's power

that humanity has dreamed up.

And, in 2015, researchers at
SETI noticed a star whose light

flickers mysteriously.

Some theorize that the light
pattern indicates that the star

is surrounded
by a Dyson sphere.

That's how much some members
of the scientific community

believe an advance
civilization would depend on

this kind of megastructure.

But with anything this big,
it's likely we may have to do

a little troubleshooting
along the way.

Brian Greene: One of the issues
with a Dyson sphere is that it

will warm up, because
it's surrounding the sun,

and then it will start to
radiate energy in its own right.

Do you just let that energy
itself now go off into space and

be wasted, or do you have
another sphere that captures the

waste energy of the first
sphere, and make use of it.

Narrator: So we'll
have a sphere outside the

Dyson sphere that will suck
up every last bit of energy.

And we'll need it once
we are so technologically

advanced that every
bit of power will count.

But at some point the
sun's energy not going to

be enough energy.

Mars and Mercury will
run out of resources.

And all of us,
include Eva and Oscar,

who have digitally
uploaded to the metaverse,

will have to make
the hardest of choices and

abandon earth
once and for all.

Eva: We must maximize
our energy efficiency.

We don't have the materials.

Mercury will be gone by
the time we're done here.

Oscar: We can move onto Venus.

Mine it, too.

And then, after?

Eva: Are you sure?

Oscar: Well, if we don't
have enough resources,

we might have to.

Eva: But, that's our home.

Oscar: It was.

But we've moved on.

And those who haven't,
we can relocate.

Narrator: It will be a sad
moment when we have to leave

our planet behind.

But since
we'll all be digital,

we don't
really need it to exist.

So where does
humanity go from here?

How do you level up when
you have colonized the entire

solar system and
become post-human?

Brian Greene: The natural next
step, beyond Dyson spheres,

if we're able to harness the
energy of individual stars,

would be to harness the
energy of the galaxy.

Narrator: One of the reasons we
fight over resources is because

of the question of ownership.

One country has oil, the
other country wants it.

But once we start looking
beyond our solar system

for resources,

the question of who owns what
gets a little more interesting.

Annalee Newitz: Say we use
up our whole solar system,

and then we say, alright,
well, we used up the whole

solar system, let's
go over to, you know,

the next solar system.

Eventually, we are going
to run into a civilization,

or even just lifeforms, that
are actually using that matter.

N. K. Jemisin: If we decide,
as a species, yeah, alright,

let's, let's turn Mercury
into a lawn, I don't think

that's a huge problem.

It's when we go somewhere else,
where there are other people,

where we're like, hey, let's
turn their Mercury into a lawn.

And they're like,
"no, we actually really

like that Mercury.

Could you not?"

Narrator: We've
left our planet.

We've claimed
and mined others.

We've harnessed the
complete energy of the sun.

But we've done it alone,
and on our own terms.

But eventually, we're
not going to be alone.

Once we expand our
reach as a civilization,

who will we meet?

And will they be
happy to see us?

Narrator: Earth has become
unlivable because of a disaster

or just wear and tear
and we now live somewhere

in outer space.

So far, it's just
us humans out there,

but it might
not always be so.

We're bound to run into some
weird-looking alien creatures

on one planet
or another, right?

Martin Rees: It's such
a fascinating question.

It's the question
I'm most often asked,

when people know
I'm an astronomer.

The question, whether we
are alone in the universe,

or whether there's
other intelligence.

There are billions
of earth-like planets orbiting

other stars in our galaxy.

And many of them
could harbor life.

Narrator: Billions of
earth-like planets?

Well, then it does seem
likely that we are not alone.

Imagining what the aliens look
like out here has practically

become a cottage
industry for Sci-Fi.

Matt Mira: Nothing terrified
me more as a kid than those

gray aliens that I would
see on "unsolved mysteries".

Where people would get
abducted, you know?

"Unsolved mysteries", you play
the music and if you are my age

you're terrified of either being
abducted by step parents or

being abducted by aliens.

Negin Farsad: I saw the movie
"arrival" and like I liked the

idea of aliens just sort of
like forming in your face.

Like, they're not like,

"hello, shake my
hand, I'm an alien."

Chuck Nice: I like the alien
alien with the mouth out of the

mouth and his like little
teeny mouth that comes,

and why do you need
that, honestly?

That's just a little
gratuitous, but who cares?

It's awesome.

Narrator: So why hasn't
Mr. Spock, or alf,

or Chewbacca come down
here to have a drink with us

at the cantina?

Futurists all have
different theories!

Matt Mira: I don't
know if there's any alien

life out there.

The numbers tell
us it should be,

but if there is intelligent
life, then where is it?

We should have seen it by now.

It should have contacted us.

Anders Sandberg: A disturbing
possibility might be that

intelligence is
actually fairly common,

but it just doesn't
last very long.

The milky way is literally
more than 10 billion years old.

There could have
been intelligence,

billions of years ago,
and we would not be able to

see the traces.

Charles Soule: But the odds of
that our civilization is going

to have started roughly around
the same time as theirs did and

it's going to be close enough
for us to sort of, like,

get in contact with
each other, to me,

the odds seem extraordinarily
high against it.

Rose Eveleth: It's just
such a huge universe.

Of course it's hard
to find other things.

Maybe they're having this
exact same conversation, right,

where they're saying,
where is everybody else,

like what's going on?

Narrator: Either that we missed
each other by a few billion

years or a few
billion light years.

And there are other
possibilities.

Oscar and Eva have decided
to live in the metaverse.

Who's to say that other alien
species haven't decided to do

the same themselves?

Could that be the
eventual end point for

all intelligent life?

Philip rosedale: Maybe, as
soon as everybody becomes smart

enough, they just
build virtual worlds,

and they don't spend that
much time flying around,

looking at all
these other worlds.

If virtual worlds folded up
inside of computers represent

such a vast space
of possibilities,

then logically speaking, the
aliens wouldn't necessarily hang

out here that much, because here
is a kind of an almost empty

desert, where there's
very little life at all.

Maybe we're about to start
doing the same thing.

Maybe we'll never go that far
into space, or that many of us,

because we just kind of
go inside the computers.

Narrator: So maybe aliens are
living on a computer cloud

millions and millions
of miles away,

living their
best virtual lives.

But who's to say we would
even recognize alien life if

we saw it?

And who's to say that alien
life would even recognize us?

Martin Rees: I do worry about
the extent to which we are

limited by the capacity
of our own brain.

We have to bear in mind that
there could be some aspects of

reality which our brains
will never understand.

Matt Mira: There's the theory
that it has contacted us,

and we were too dumb to
understand what it was saying.

Narrator: It's possible
aliens just don't want to

hang out with us.

Do they not think
we're cool enough?

We have iPhones and
we're on our way to having

a Dyson sphere,
so what gives?

Brian Greene: You know,
when we walk by an ant hill,

we don't feel compelled to
go have dinner with the ants.

They're not that
interesting to us.

And if there is this advanced
civilization out there,

we're like the ants.

Why would they come?

For what reason?

Not enough pull.

Nothing compelling here
for them to come and visit.

Narrator: Well, even
if the aliens don't find

us compelling,
I am not too offended.

I'd say we've
grown exponentially

as a civilization.

We've even made our
entire solar system our home.

We may or may not
have met aliens,

but we have definitely
harnessed or used up every bit

of power and matter
we have available to us.

But when we've done these
incredible things, what next?

Turns out advanced
civilization can,

in the immortal words
of "spinal tap", 'go to 11.'

it's up to
us to imagine how.

Narrator: So, we've arrived.

Humankind is now a
solar-system-spanning

civilization, with
colonies across multiple

planets and moons.

We've colonized space
and prolonged the human race.

The crazy part is: We're only
halfway to achieving the full

imagined potential of any race.

Rose Eveleth: A civilization
can sometimes be judged by how

efficient it uses its energy,
and there is this concept that

sort of ranks civilizations
based on how much energy they

can get from their
sun or suns around it.

Narrator: According to
Soviet astrophysicist,

Nikolai Kardashev,
civilizations can be ranked

according to how much energy
they have at their disposal.

He created a three-tiered
scale to define and

measure how
advanced a society is.

Anders Sandberg: The Kardashev
scale is a kind of shorthand for

looking at the sizes or
powers of civilizations.

So a level I civilization uses
all the energy on the planet.

Brian Greene: The
next step would be hey,

can you go further and
harness all of the sun's energy.

That's what a Dyson
sphere ultimately would be.

They'd be a, a billion times
more efficient at grabbing the

sun's energy than we
can possibly do here on

our lonely planet earth.

Narrator: And the third
level would be beyond the

Dyson sphere, where
we'd figure out how to suck up

all the energy in the galaxy.

Right now, humans
aren't even at a level one.

And we've only imagined up to
level two in science fiction.

Anders Sandberg: One could
compare the Kardashev scale to

some pop culture references.

So imagine coruscant, a city
that covers an entire planet in

the "star wars".

That would be a
level I civilization.

A level II civilization
would be a Dyson shell

surrounding a star.

It shows up in some
episodes of Star Trek,

but Kardashev level III
civilizations very rarely show

up in pop culture, because
it's so hard to even depict

what it means to
harness an entire galaxy.

Narrator: That's right,
Hollywood can't even imagine

what a type III
civilization will look like.

It's just too
big for our limited

21st century minds.

But if we can't even
begin to imagine what a level

3 Kardashev race looks like,
how can we ever achieve it?

And more importantly, before
we start on this future-forward

journey, can we make sure that
when we fan out across the

universe, we won't make
the same mistakes we made on

earth that will force
us to leave the planet?

Annalee Newitz: All of the
outer planets would've been

converted into the
Dyson sphere, to build it.

So, the Dyson sphere could be
kind of an ecological disaster

at a solar system level.

Rose Eveleth: Space
exploration is colonization,

and I think that's an
important thing to think about,

because if we decide we
want to colonize something,

that often means that we
are killing and stealing.

Baratunde Thurston: Part of what
we have happening with the way

technology is
unleashed on the world,

is that people just do it.

And then the
consequences be damned.

They come later.

We don't care what it
does to the environment.

I mean, the automobile is
a great example of like a

super-awesome invention
that is killing the planet.

Narrator: In other words,
if we do get to level two,

the Dyson sphere, we may
screw up the universe the way

we did up our planet.

And that means humankind
won't last until level 3.

If we're going to
leave the planet,

we need to do so
consciously and carefully.

Greenhouse gas emissions and
global warming didn't worry

Henry Ford a century ago when
he was inventing the model t.

And now we can cross the
country by car in a week,

but we won't have
a polar ice cap.

Chuck Nice: So my suggestion is,
why don't we just take care of

this planet?

How about we do that?

You know, it's
kind of like, yeah,

why don't we throw away the
dishes cause I don't feel like

washing them?

Like that's the idea that we
have towards this earth and

it's, I don't think
it's realistic.

Negin Farsad: Like we should
spend all that money on making

sure earth is awesome and like
literally none of it on Mars.

Narrator: What if we
decide that instead of finding

new ways to explore
the outer reaches of space,

we make the
earth work for us?

It'd certainly be a
lot more comfortable here.

Chuck Nice: The kind of
space travel that we need to do

right now, you have to sacrifice
pretty much everything

in order to do it.

Like, I couldn't go to space.

If you told me right now I had
the opportunity right now to go,

even to like the kuiper belt
and back, I wouldn't do it.

Charles Soule: I like
traveling to places, right,

but I also like coming home
to my own place where, like,

I have my own netflix and
I've got my own, you know,

the food that I'm familiar
with and all those things.

Like, there's a reason we
don't live in Antarctica.

I mean, humans can survive
there, but it sucks.

Narrator: It's true.

Space is cool on "Star Trek",

but in reality, it would
indeed be very difficult.

And that's why keeping
earth alive as long as possible

is our most logical
course of action.

For now.

The future will bring
exploration: Mankind has been

charting new and
more difficult paths since the

birth of civilization.

It doesn't seem like
we're going to stop now.

Let's just hope we have
learned from our mistakes,

and that we'll treat
our galaxy better than we've

treated our
forests and our oceans.

After all, outer space is the
last great uncharted territory,

filled with substances
and structures we

can only imagine.

So get ready for
dark matter, wormholes,

and parallel universes.