The UETI Model
Introduction
Since the invention of spaceflight and the mapping of the Milky Way and the universe, there has been one obvious question: "Where is the extra-terrestrial life that must surely exist and why haven't we been contacted by them?"
This question was asked by Enrico Fermi and has become known as the Fermi Paradox. It is closely aligned with the Drake Equation that demonstrates the near certainty of advanced extra-terrestrial life existing and being detectble by Earth technology.
The most popular explanation for the paradox is the Great Filter. It presents a picture where every advanced ETI is destroyed or destroys itself. This and most other explanations for the Fermi Paradox are slanted negatively. The Great Filter is a representation of today's uncertainty rather than a likely model of ETI development.
The model presented here is UETI, or Ultimate Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, wherein the UETI is defined as having reached the Ultimate State of development. Rather than being isolated because there are no other ETIs advanced enough to reach us, this model discusses our isolation as being intentional and organized by the UETI.
In order to predict ETI behavior from the singular case of observed civilization, Earth civilization's behavior must be extrapolated into the future. It is important that this extrapolation be done with a historical perspective of incremental advancement rather than a fatalistic perspective derived from the "politics of the day."
In order to justify the UETI model over the Great Filter a consideration of explicit and implicit assumptions must be made. The two primary assumptions discussed will be Copernican , that Earth and this time in Earth's development isn't special, and Anthropomorphic, that all ETIs will be human-like. There is only one know ETI, namely Earth, so all assumptions should be Copernican and Anthropomorphic or justified as to why they are not.
The Great Filter looks at the dangers posed to modern civilization and concludes Earth civilization may imminently end. This assumption is too pessimistic to be Copernican, since Earth civilization has made it this far into its development. UETI is a more optimistic model of the future. It assumes social, political, scientific, technological and medical developments will come at a pace that can be handled by modern humans. It further assumes this pace will allow for recovery from near disasters such as with the Cold War and Climate Change.
The problem with all ETI analysis is that it is a projection of Earth civilization into the future and therefore is based on the current viewpoint of scientists rather than an historical view of civilization's development. To work through this problem a heavily Copernican system model will be used.
This paper will present the context, solution and analysis of the UETI model. Related work will be discussed and a problem statement will be described. Next, a detailed description of the UETI will be presented in such a way that analysis of the UETI's characteristics can be performed.
The following terms will be used throughout this paper:
UETI - Ultimate Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
ETI -Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
Ultimate State - epitome of all knowledge, technology, artificial evolution, and societal structure
Problem Statement
Given the existence of Earth civilization and the size of the universe it is perplexing that there has been no recognized ETI contact. The current model for predicting ETI behavior not only assumes a modern, Earth-like civilization, it also assumes Earth's current level of technology represents a near epitome of development. This system model will make the former but not the latter assumption. In other words, Earth civilization will be extrapolated into the very distant future.
The assumption that Earth civilization will undergo many more paradigm shifts and the resulting impact on society, culture and the arts will create their own paradigm shifts is a Copernican assumption. It assumes that we are somewhere in the middle of our development. When it comes to the very distant future all paradigms will be known and all technology will be developed. The only question of whether the UETI has a certain technology is whether that technology is feasible.
The advent of artificial evolution through genetic engineering is upon us at this time. Eventually, with careful controls, artificial evolution could be used to remove genetic pathogens. From there it's a small step to want every member of society to be healthy, intelligent and long-lived. Remember, this is a prediction of a very distant future where all ethical concerns about modifying the human genome will have been satisfied. This is a non-Copernican assumption since it is presuming we are at the start of a new behavior as a civilization.
System Model
The existence of ETIs is assumed. The sheer size of the universe and the existence of humankind makes this an easy assumption.
Extra-Terrestrial life will follow the same path of evolution humankind has followed. This is a heavily Anthropomorphic assumption and implies that DNA-based life is all that exists. No other system of chemical processes has been demonstrated to create life.
The other aspect of this assumption, that evolutionary processes are necessary to promote life, is actually Copernican since it assumes that DNA based life is typical. The limitation on cell size, and thus nucleus size, means there is a finite number of genes possible in any ETI. In the UETI the entire genome has been edited and optimized to include all possible good genes while removing all bad genes.
ETIs are primarily biological in nature or at least are high fidelity whole-mind emulations, see Appendix A. This assumption is necessary because any other form of intelligence will be impossible to predict until one has been studied. Since it appears the creation of an AI is likely to precede whole-mind emulation, this is a non-Earth like and therefore, non-Copernican assumption.
The technologies listed as qualifications for being classified as a UETI, rather than an ETI, are assumed feasible. The justification for feasibility will be presented in the Solution.
The existence of an invisible, to us at least, galactic or universe-wide civilization is assumed. This is the cornerstone assumption of the UETI model.
It is further assumed that there are three levels of human intelligence, see Table 1. These levels are primarily defined by their ability to communicate with radio signals. The Primitive Intelligence can not communicate by radio signal. The ETI has remote communication by way of radio signals. The UETI has remote communication beyond radio signals with some sort of undetectable technology not known to ETIs.
| In Order of Species Age |
|---|
| Ultimate Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence |
| Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence |
| Primitive Intelligence |
Table 1
All ETI models draw heavily on Earth civilization as typical and so for the sake of argument, Earth civilization will sometimes be referred to as an ETI rather than as a special case of intelligent life.
Related work
This is the primary reference in the prediction of ETIs and was done by Fermi and Drake. Rather than projecting Earth civilization into the future they approached the problem from a statistical standpoint. This work was expanded to include the entire universe and shows ETIs to be a virtual certainty in Calculating the Number of ETIs.
After the concluding that there must be other civilizations, Fermi asked "Where are they?" He advocated the position that there weren't other civilizations or Earth would have been contacted by now. Fermi's mistake was his underlying assumptions were based on current trends in Earth's civilization. The desire to explore, contact and conquer are not necessarily part of humankind's future.
The Great Filter assumes that all ETIs destroy themselves before developing inter-stellar flight. It's primary contention is that if there were highly developed ETIs they would have contacted Earth or left some evidence of their existence. This theory is too pessimistic. Its assumption of self-destruction is rooted more in modern perspectives and problems than in an historical model of rise and fall with incremental progress in civilization.
This model of future development focuses too much on cybernetics. While cybernetics will almost certainly be a part of achieving the Ultimate State, it is only a small part. The Ultimate State requires complete advancement in society, art and genetics as much as science and technology.
This theory of future humankind speculates that animals and plants will eventually be considered equal to humans. There are clear differences in the brains of humans and animals. The UETI will still have a human brain even in the Ultimate State. Plants and animals do not have the sophistication to develop further.
Solution
The underlying assumption is that all life, whether naturally occurring or seeded by an ETI, will be DNA-based life. Eventually all life will tend to evolve into a kind of anthropomorphic human and then to the same Ultimate State of the UETI.
Accepting the possibility of an ETI seeding the Earth is not an opening for Creationism. The existence of the first ETIs means accepting the existence of a natural pathway for life to spontaneously develop on suitable planets.
Three levels of intelligent life are defined as follows.
Primitive
ETI
UETI
In the Primitive level there is a raw intelligence within a species. However, until the civilization can transmit radio waves it does not meet Drake's classical definition of an extra-terrestrial civilization or ETI.
In the ETI level there is an established technological civilization. The basic definition of an ETI is that it can communication with radio signals. Earth civilization is at one end of a continuum of ETI development which at the other end is the UETI.
After a sufficient amount of time the Ultimate State will be reached. The UETI has all possible technologies. The only question for whether the UETI has a technology is the feasibility of the specific technology. The following technologies are assumed feasible and will serve as a definition of the UETI. Any ETI with all of these technologies will be defined as a UETI.
Extremely long life is not the same as immortality, see Appendix A. Once immortality is achieved the Ultimate State will always be reached by every immortal individual.
With each level of technology a greater invisibility has and will be obtained, see Appendix B. The ultimate state is zero emissions and zero gravitational field. The UETI is completely undetectable whenever it chooses.
This is necessary to be everywhere in the universe and is therefore part of the Ultimate State, see Appendix C. The cosmic horizon is expanding faster than the speed of light and the entire universe can not be reached by only sub-light-speed travel.
This is included because it is necessary for a universe simulation to be loaded with initial conditions. It must be done with the ability to sense and communicate without radio waves or other detectable emissions, see Appendix D.
High-Fidelity Universe Simulation
By basing a simulation only on particle dynamics, everything can be accounted for in one massive simulation, see Appendix E. Unlike the particle reality, the computational reality can be reversed, stopped or fast forwarded. This means the UETI knows every thing past, present and future.
This leap in technology is assumed feasible because if an ETI is on a path undesirable to the UETI, this technology can be used to introduce corrections to the ETI's behaviour, see Appendix F. Small, almost coincidental, events could greatly affect a civilization if properly designed. By using the Universe Simulation, introduction of small corrections could be tested for their effectivenesss. This explains how the ETI behavior of not contacting Earth civilization could be coordinated by the UETI even without agreement from all of the less developed ETIs.
Analysis
Answer to the Fermi Paradox
In answer to Fermi's Paradox, the reason that we have not been contacted by an ETI or UETI is that there is an orchestrated effort to avoid contact. The presence of the UETI allows for and manages this coordination. As Earth civilization advances, more and more precautions to avoid detection could be taken by the UETI. The UETI's ability to predict the future through its Universe Simulation means they would never be surprised by new detection technology developed by Earth.
UETI Characteristics
The UETI would have no need for Earth's resources nor would it be threatened by Earth civilization. It needs nothing from any ETI and literally has technology which could be triggered by the blink of an eye to wipe out any threat. It is above need and fear.
Through artificial evolution, the UETI is any gender, or even genderless, as a matter of choice. All individual ETIs will follow convergent artificial evolution and end with virtually identical genomes. This includes all race variants. Therefore, any individual UETI genome is expressed in the same form as any other individual. The UETI can be described as "he", "she", "it" or "they". By now they have merged their memories, minds, personalities and emotions to whatever extent of integration they choose. If they choose to fully merge it would mean every UETI individual will think exactly like every other UETI individual.
The UETI is benevolent to life and the creative processes that lead to sophisticated and intelligent beings. This can be surmised by the UETI's protecting Earth from contact with any malevolent ETIs. While the UETI can be assumed benevolent, other ETIs can not be assumed as such. There are probably some ETIs bent on destruction as demonstrated by Earth civilization's worst historical tendencies.
Finer Classification of ETIs
Civilizations range from Primitive Intelligences to the UETI. At each level of ETI development a technological capability must be achieved to qualify a civilization as being at a specific Level. Further, each ETI may be benevolent(+), ambivalent or malevolent(-) in its approach to other ETIs. The ambivalent case is akin to a distant benevolence and will not be treated separately. Levels of ETIs can be defined based on the technological advances that will eventually qualify it as a UETI, as shown in Table 2.
| Level | Approach | Technology |
|---|---|---|
| A | + | Primitive Intelligence |
| A | - | |
| B | + | Radio |
| B | - | |
| C | + | Immortality |
| C | - | |
| D | + | Faster-than-light travel |
| D | - | |
| E | + | Action at a distance |
| E | - | "Level E- can not exist" |
Table 2
The UETI is a E+ level and Earth civilization is a B-. The conclusion that Earth would be malevolent to other ETIs is based on the historically recent subjugation of indigenous humans, or Primitive Intelligence societies, here on Earth.
Conclusion
This Solution is intended to answer the Fermi paradox in an optimistic manner and therefore is quite different from the Great Filter hypothesis. The alternate answer of no Great Filter and no UETI is considered disproven by the lack of documented ETI contact. Something must be preventing ETI contact since the existance of other ETIs is virtuually certain.
The impact of this paper is in answering Fermi's Paradox with an optimistic bias. It can open the doorway to a new mode of crisis management. One where Earth civilization does everything it can to take care of itself while resigned to the idea that not everything is under humankind's control at this point in time.
The limitations of this approach are obvious. It is so speculative as to border on pseudo-science. The lack of ETI contact means every theory in this field is highly speculative. Religious impacts of the UETI are explored in greater depth by Definition of UETI-ism.
Appendix A
Immortality - Cybernetic vs Biological
With whole-mind emulation the brain and brain-body connection are replaced with a computer. To truly copy the human brain and body would require the ability to map every molecule in an individual and then using known biochemical processes to simulate the working of the living brain and brain-body connection.
This High-Fidelity human intelligence can be predicted based on what is known about current human behavior. Artificial-Intelligence and Low-Fidelity human copies can not be accounted for in this anthropomorphic model.
In biological immortality a living brain and presumably body is kept alive for millennium and can be replaced while retaining an individual's consciousness. Long biological life could be attained in many ways but will eventually hit a wall of the brain's aging and eventually death. For true immortality, what is needed are the same tools as cybernetic life and one more. After mapping the molecules of an individual it could be processed to removed all the defects from aging, cell-by-cell, DNA-by-DNA strand, even molecule-by-molecule. The most important part of the rejuvenation process is to maintain the brain's neural interconnectivity while rejuvenating the neurons themselves. At this point the molecule map has to be reconstructed into biological form. Conceptually this would be done by some sort of 3-D molecular printer.
One note in particular. Biological immortality requires more steps and therefore will be achieved second. But in the eventual case of biological immortality the brain will be physically unable to hold all of the memories generated. Therefore, a cybernetic component will be needed even in the case of biological immortality.
The technologies discussed in immortality are also useful in other devices. For example, molecular mapping and printing leads to replicators, machines capable of making copies of anything desired.
As part of the biological immortality process two machines are needed. The Rejuvenation machine has already been discussed and is essentially a replicator which carefully edits the molecular patterns between mapping and printing. A second device, a Ressurection machine, is needed in the case of accidental death. If a copy of an individual is saved then that person could be resurrected at their last save point. In this process the individual's brain development between the save point and death would be lost. Note this would not be the case for the UETI. It is defined as being able to remotely scan the brain and therefore could keep an up to date copy of itself at all times.
Finally, once both forms of immortality are achieved, individuals would be able to transfer in and out of cybernetic reality and biological reality all while maintaining a single stream of consciousness. Ultimately billions or trillions of individuals could be living both in biologic and in cybernetic form.
Appendix B
Invisibility
Zero emissions would also mean zero reflected energy. This is similar to radar stealth technology and has been extended to invisibility in a single visible wavelength. In the future it is likely that a technological solution to zero emissions, including zero reflections, will be achieved. The ultimate state of zero emissions is more foreseeable than zero gravitational field. However, given what Earth civilization still doesn't understand about dark energy it may be possible. Dark energy has some characteristics of anti-gravity and perhaps could lead to an inverse warping of space-time.
Appendix C
Faster Than Light Travel
This is only possible by warping space-time with an heretofore unknown force, whether it's anti-gravity or dark energy or antimatter there may well be a currently unharnessed substance that would allow super-luminal, otherwise known as faster-than-light, travel.
There are two areas of study that may lead to this technology, natural super-luminal transmission and the artificial warp drive.
In the case of observed natural super-luminal transmission there are theories that we are incorrectly calculating the speed of natural phenomenon because of the method of observation. However, none of these theories can account for all observations and therefore there may be something else involved. The current lack of a definitive theory of dark matter and dark energy opens the door to a new theory being needed to fully explain space-time.
In the case of artificial warping of space-time to allow a localized area to move faster-than-light is detailed in the Alcubierre drive. In this proposal a large amount of negative energy is needed. Negative energy is available in antimatter and even though small amounts of antimatter have been produced in the lab, currently there is no method to produce sufficient quantities. However, if a method of producing large quantities of antimatter is discovered then the warp drive could soon follow.
Appendix D
Remote Sensing
This technology is already in use and is closely related to spectroscopy. In the case of spectroscopy a sample is illuminated and the resulting absorption spectrum is indicative of the elements within the sample. Whether the illumination is passive or active doesn't matter as long as the spectrum of the source is known.
In relation to ETIs this method would be detectable if an active illumination was used. ETIs at an early stage of development, such as Earth, can use passive sources such as stars to accomplish this sensing without giving away their presence. But the lack of abundant artificial light and radio sources indicates that ETIs in later development stages have a method of illumination that is undetectable. This technology could be used to remotely sense the composition and structure of matter without being detectable.
Appendix E
High-Fidelity Universe Simulation
A universe simulation is a simulation of everything including civilizations and individuals and would be perceived as a reality simulation from within. The simulation would be based on particle dynamics but for the simulation of a single civilization it is likely that distant phenomenon could be approximated without the simulation noticeably deviating from reality.
The benefit of simulating the real universe, as opposed to a fanciful creation, is that it could be used to know everything about reality, past and future. Once loaded with initial conditions from the remote sensing previously proposed, it could be 'rewound' to discover anything about the past. Of course this assumes that the true nature of particle dynamics is understood by the simulation programmers. The simulation could also be 'fast forwarded' to predict the future. Keeping in mind that all individuals are part of the simulation (see whole-mind emulation) a person's future would be known to the simulation operators. If any deviation from a desired goal is detected in the future then the simulation could be rewound, corrected with a small change, and fast forwarded to see the impact of the change. In this way the UETI could design the minimum impact necessary to achieve its goals.
One interesting side effect of a universe simulation is that it would create a computational reality for all of the individuals in the universe. Since it would be indistinguishable from the particle universe this computer generated reality would in fact become a separate yet equal reality. An ETI running such a simulation could move between the particle and computational realities whenever it chose.
Appendix F
Action at a Distance
This technology, while currently implausible, is necessary to explain how ETI behavior would be controlled by the UETI without the ETI's knowledge. Current science does not allow for action at a distance except through known field theories but it might be possible. The random nature of quantum mechanics would be completely understood by the UETI and thereby possibly allow it to influence the quantum position of particles. Whatever the case, this hypothesis began with the assumption that Earth science and technology have not reached the epitome of the Ultimate State. The future of science is not known and can not be accurately predicted into the very distant future.