The fear of the total destruction of humanity is permanent. Capable almost from the origins of it. Over time, in addition to thinking that something catastrophic could happen to us, steps were also taken to preserve our brightest legacy. One of them is the hard drive of immortality, or Immortality Drive.
The idea is simple, but with enormous potential: As Gizmodo explains, In the event of the destruction of life on our planet, or of a good part of that life, the DNA code of a handful of valuable characters is stored on a chip.
Very curious, of course. But even more knowing where the hard drive of immortality is located: in the International Space Station, almost 500 kilometers from the earth’s surface.
How did the Immortality Drive get to the International Space Station?
Richard Garriott, video game designer, launched the Immortality Drive in 2008, as ABC News review. He traveled aboard the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft to the ISS, with his own funds (30 million dollars he paid, according to reports), traveling for twelve days and leaving his contribution in the space laboratory.
Garriott is behind video games like Tabula Rasa, Ultima Saga, Bioforge, and Akalabeth: World of Doom.
The immortality hard drive is a kind of digital time capsule that serves as an “external backup” for the human race. In Garriott’s words, “It is a digital archive of humanity’s greatest achievements and a snapshot of humanity itself.”
The handful of characters on the hard drive of immortality
Who are some of the characters whose genome is on the International Space Station?
Scientists like the legendary Stephen Hawking; Entrepreneurs as Kevin Rose (Digg, Pownce, Revision3), Tim Draper and Robert Scoble; athletes as Scott Johnson (Olympic gymnast) and Matt Morgan (professional wrestler); Joe Ely, Stephen Bruton and Eric Johnson, among others musicians; Tracy Hickman, Scott Murphy and Christiana Miller, among others writers.
There are at least 20 people whose DNA sequences are on the hard drive of immortality. Can you imagine a world repopulated by them? No, neither do we.